Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I triple checked the coordinates as I put the lab truck in park infront of an old abandoned building. Wily made it easy to tell that we were in the right spot though; he had his dumb skull logo plastered everywhere around the outside of the building.
"Dad, this is a trap. Are you ready for this?" Pharaoh asked as he stepped out of the front passenger seat of the lab truck as Dive pulled in behind us in my car.
"He has Kalinka...We have to do this."
"I know." He nodded as he armoured up.
"Pharaoh, boys..." I waited for the rest of my bots to gather. "I, I just want you boys to know that you will always be part of my family. No matter what happens from here on out you are all my sons, and I couldn't be prouder to be your father."
"We...Thanks, Dad." Pharaoh nodded solemnly as the others seemed to understand where I was going.
"Okay, lets go then." I said as I carefully picked up Bright, who was looking a bit shaky.
We all shuffled to the front door of the building and I knocked loudly. It seemed to fall on deaf ears though. I guess they just wanted us to go in.
I wiggled the door handle to see if it was unlocked. Sure enough, the door creaked open and we all shuffled our way inside. Something darted across the hall infront of us, but it must have been one of the Wily bots.
"What now?" Drill asked, looking a bit shaken.
"Well, I guess we start looking around. Stick together though, you never know-"
"Ah! There you are! Sorry, it's quite the walk from the lab up to the top floor." Wily said as he made his grand entrance. "I would have sent one of the bots up to get you, but they're all still recovering from last night." Wily sneered as he waved us in. "Please, this way if you will. The lab is in the lower levels. It's the only place in this shack that isn't deathly cold." Cold? It wasn't that cold here.
"Wily, I don't want to play your games." I said stricktly as he turned his back on me and I was forced to follow him downstairs.
"This isn't a game Cossack, it's a business offer." He replied as I glanced back at my boys to make sure they were all still with us. "Now please, have a seat so we can get started."
Wily wasn't lying when he said this was the warmest part of the building, but it was pretty obvious why that was. Two huge coil heaters sat on either side of the room to keep the equipment at an ideal temperature. These metal coils were surrounded by Wily bots though; who frankly looked less than concerned with our arrival. Wily probably just wanted them close in case I tried to pull anything on him. A couple of glowing red eyes looked up at us, but they quickly faded back to pale greens and blues.
None the less I took a seat at a workbenck opposite Wily. I boosted Bright up on my lap as he tried to snuggle into my coat. The rest all stood vigilantly behind me, scanning the room for other threats.
"Your daughter has been just a pleasure Cossack. I wish my bots had half the manners she does." Wily started, but he also said quite loudly and directed towards his bots around the room.
"She is a very strong girl to show you any sort of sympathy."
"Ah yes, she was quite hostile at first, but once she realized that nobody was going to hurt her she settled down."
"Where is she Wily?"
"The girl is fine! She was braiding Snake's hair this morning when I saw her last, so I assume she's with him still. But, down to the point I guess."
"Of why you kidnapped her? Or what you want?"
"Your bots have turned out quite nicely now, haven't they?" Wily said as he got up and slowly made him way up to my boys. "I still remember Light gushing over you when you were a grad student. He said that you'd do great things one day." I watched as Pharaoh smacked Wily's hand away as he tried to touch his shoulder. "Hmph, ornery thing." Wily huffed as he gently put a hand on Toad's head and crouched down infront of him. "That's better."
"Wily, you aren't getting my boys." I said as I stood up to face him.
"But don't you want your baby girl back? Surely trading these bots for your own flesh and blood is worth it." He said as he picked up Toad and held him the same way I was holding Bright. Toad didn't put up any kind of fight. He was accepting the fact that I would probably be abandoning them here.
"These boys are my family too, I wouldn't trade them for the world!" I snarled back.
"Well then, we've reached an impasse Dr. Cossack. I want your robots and you want your daughter, and both of us are unwilling to give up either."
"Why do you even want my boys, Wily? They aren't exactly combat ready."
"Truthfully, I just need to buy some time. You already have almost a full line, adding two of mine and sending them off wouldn't take too long."
"Why though?"
"I've hit some...roadblocks...with my next line, that will take some time to work out. I can't have Light getting to cozy with me not being around now can I?" Wily laughed to himself as the Lab door opened and a very exhausted Snakeman entered. "What did she do to you?"
"Nothing, jus-t got too cold." Snake managed to stutter out. "I'm trading off." He said as he kicked at one of the bots on the floor.
Snake collapsed before the other bot even got up, which admittedly had me a bit concerned.
"Is my daughter out in the cold, alone right now?"
"Oh heavens no! She's with two of my bots constantly. Snake is very sensative to the weather here though." Wily said as he put Toad down in favour of going to comfort Snake. "Oh! Snake, are you sure you're okay?" He doted quietly as the other bot started to get up.
"Yeah...cold." Snake replied quietly as Wily rubbed his side.
"Where is she?" Magnet asked as he sat up and stretched.
"She's in her room with S-park playing."
Magnet nodded and quickly made his way out of the room, but not before giving me a caution wave 'hello'. I, of course, didn't give him a response, but I probably should have. While Wily's bots were war-machines, they were still advanced A.I. like my boys who required some form of attention. I probably could have shown him a little bit of sympathy.
"Wily, I have a preposition." I said as he stood up.
"Oh yes, what is it?"
"My boys and I will do whatever it is that you want us to do, but I get to stay here with them. You will provide me with the parts I need to build two more robots, and when this is done they will return home with me. And lastly, you'll fix up this dump so your bots don't have to hide in here near the heaters. That's a miserable life to live for them."
"And after all that I'll let you have your daughter. Perfect!" Wily cheered as I gave my boys a half hearted look.
I kinda meant he'd let us have Kalinka now, but at least I knew she was okay.
"Well, I guess if it's settled like that then we can teleport back to my castle. The facilities their should be to your liking Doctor. Maybe then my boys could be of SOME ASSISTANCE!" Wily got a lot of moans and dirty looks from his boys, but none of them looked like they were in a hurry to go. "Okay, come on, up! Time to go home."
Pharaoh lightly tapped my shoulder as we watched Wily try and rally his boys awake. I turned towards him lightly as I felt Toad's hands wrap around my leg.
"Dad, I don't think this is a very good idea...You should have just left us and taken Kalinka home."
"We're doing this together, Pharaoh. I promised I wouldn't let him hurt you."
Pharaoh still gave me some worried glances, but he dropped it for now.
"Will you boys show the Cossack's to the teleporter? And have any of you seen Heat?"
"Heat was upstairs last I saw him." Bubble responded quietly as Wily rubbed his shoulder.
"Okay, I'll go get him."
"I'll come with you Wily." I said as my boys looked a bit shocked. "You boys go with them to the teleporter, we'll catch up." I said as I boosted Bright up a bit.
Now Pharaoh was extremely worried, but he must have thought I was planning something not to question it.
"Okay, come on then Cossack." Wily said as he made his way back up to the main floor.
I followed him around as he started checking through all of the ruined rooms on the main floor of the building.
"Dad?" Bright said quietly as I fell behind Wily a bit.
"Yes Bright?"
"The Wily bot's looked sick."
"Well...a lot of them probably are." I admitted as I thought about it. "They don't get the attention they need. And being combat bots they all need a lot of upkeep."
"Heat! Come on it's time to go!" Wily yelled down the empty halls as I heard giggling from one of the rooms beside me.
I watched as the small bot took off down the hall towards Wily and jumped into his arms, smiling and laughing happily. I don't think that I'd ever seen a Wily bot laugh, or smile like that to be honest. Heat just seemed too happy to be a combat bot.
"There you are you little scoundrel!" Wily teased as he raspberries the bots face. "I hate when you run around by yourself like this."
"Sorry, Dad..." Heat responded quietly as he hugged Wily back.
"Ahem," Wily coughed and seemed to look a bit embarrassed. "Just, don't do it again."
I had no idea Wily felt this way about his bots, he clearly cared about them a lot. I guess they were his own little family too.
"Okay, let's go back home."

Chapter Text

Wily's 'home' was a huge castle that seemed to be on some kind of tropical island. It was vacation weather; no wonder his boys were so cold up in Russia.
"I trust you are capable of feeding yourselves. The kitchen is to the left of this lab, there is a washroom and bedrooms to the right that you and your boys may use. You may explore the fortress to your hearts content, my bots will be around if you need anything." Wily explained as I gawked at the lab he had set me up in. "I need to get back to work on something. But if you need me one of my boys can point you in my direction."
"Yes, thank you, Wily. I'll get to work right away."
"No rush, Cossack. It's Sunday so Wood is cooking dinner tonight. Don't be late."
Wily made his exit and I was about to start looking around the lab when I was pulled into a group huddle with my boys.
"Dad! Why did you say all that!! Why did you say you'd do this!" Dust tried to scold me but he was pretty much in tears already.
"Now you're stuck here too! You should've just left us, we would have survived by ourselves!" Dive added as Drill and Toad nodded along furiously.
"Guys! Please!" Pharaoh tried to calm the group down, but everyone was clearly fuming. "We can fight about this later, but for right now we just need to start planning."
"Right, we need to learn the lay out of the fortress and where they're keeping Kalinka. If we can get her then we can make a break for it." Bright said as I sighed.
"What...? What's wrong Dad?"
"As much as I want to just run; the Wily bots will tear you boys apart if Wily orders them to. Then we'll be in even more trouble... I think we're safer for now just to do what Wily wants, and once you boys are updated for combat then we can see about an escape plan."
They all looked at me, dumbfounded.
"You, you can't be serious Dad...You want to just play along with Wily's sick game?!"
"Pharaoh. It's not like that." I stated strictly back.
"No! It is! Because you don't think we could do it!"
"There are 16 of them Pharaoh! We don't even know where we are!" I yelled back as he crossed his arms.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose as I tried to think of how I could explain this to my most stubborn son. Pharaoh wouldn't listen at this point though.
"I'm just trying to keep you boys safe. You know that...I couldn't stand to see you boys in any real danger. You're going to fight Rock, but Rock won't hurt you! He knows you boys wouldn't really do this! The Wily bots COULD kill you though, and they'd HAVE to if Wily gave them the order! We're all safer for now if we all just play along, okay?" I was met with silence around the group circle, but I think my point was made.
We all whipped around as someone coughed outside of the lab doors. A handful of Wily bots were holding onto the door frame peaking in before they all blushed and disappeared. Great, now they all know my boys were conspiring against them. I quickly made my way over to the door, but the bots had already vanished. Probably hiding somewhere within earshot still, ready to turn tail and blab on us if we did start planning an escape.
"We all just need to relax and take some time to figure out our situation." I said as I stood in the doorway now. "You boys should go and check out the sleeping situation. I'm going to check out the lab."
"Come on guys...I wouldn't mind a nap before dinner anyways." Pharaoh ordered as all of my boys made their exit.
Hopefully I hadn't made them all too angry with me, but they'd all cool down once we figured things out.
I turned around again as I heard Dive yelling and a couple of skittering feet back down the hallway. Apparently they'd already run into the spying Wily bots. They were definitely the bigger threat, but apparently Dive was big and intimidating enough to scare them off.
I uneasily sat myself down in the computer chair infront of a huge monitor. The screen already showed a lot of my boys files, but I really didn't want to know where or how Wily had gotten all of my information. There were even pictures that Pharaoh had sent me from his worksite with him and one of the archeologists couples child. The pictures were all covered in digital markers noting all of Pharaoh's new scratches and dents. Wily was obviously keeping close tabs on my boys.
I whipped around again to find a very displeased looking Metalman being shoved into the lab. The others slammed the door behind him as he tried to get back out. He awkwardly turned to me now, back still pressed against the door like a scared animal.
"I....uh...."
"Hello Metalman, can I help you with anything?"
"Oh! Ahem! No no, it's not that Doctor! We just..." he sighed out heavily, trying to compose his thoughts. "We just wanted to apologize...What Wily did was taking things too far. We're sorry your family got dragged into this."
"Well, thank you..." This was, awkward. "I really appreciate your concern."
"That's it! Yep!" If Metal could sweat he would be. "Sorry to interupt! See you at dinner!" He said, gently knocking on the door before he was finally let back out.
That was, interesting. I didn't think the Wily bots would be all that intimidated by us, let alone me by myself. Perhaps Wily had told them horror stories about me to make sure they wouldn't bother me. Maybe that I'd trick them onto being nice or something silly. From what I'd seen from them so far though they were nothing like how Light had described them.
Maybe they weren't so bad after all.

Chapter Text

My boys had flat out refused to come down to dinner with me. I really couldn't blame them for being worried though. But, I was goddamn hungry, and I was going down to dinner whether they liked it or not. If they felt the need to accompany me then they could, but I felt pretty safe going by myself if they wouldn't come.
I could already hear the Wily bots carrying on about something as I peaked around the corner to the kitchen. Sure enough the kitchen opened up into a huge living room space that was full of plush looking couches and mattresses. The Wily bots obviously spent a lot of time here.
I tried not to draw a lot of attention to myself as I snuck into the kitchen part of the space. Wood and Bubble noticed, but they didn't call me out to their brothers who were waiting in the living room.
"Hi..." Bubble said shyly as he swung his legs back and forth off the edge of the counter.
"Hello, how are you two?" I asked equally as quietly, but it looked like my sneaking was successful.
"Good..."
"Are your bots not coming?" Wood asked softly as he leaned on the counter.
"No, they just need some time to soak everything in. They're pretty upset still."
"Oh...that's okay. We all know how that goes." Wood said as he cracked a half smile at me. "I'll bring them all leftovers later if they don't come."
"I'm sure they'd really appreciate that." I said as I leaned on the counter beside Bubble. "Metal came to apologize earlier; I just wanted to thank you all for your concern. I know it's not your faults for what happened, and I'm sorry in advance if any of my boys take it out on you."
"You don't have to apologize for them. They deserve to be angry with us." Wood sighed as he checked the oven. "If they really need to take it out on someone we'd rather it be us than each other." Bubble half heartedly nodded along, obviously not really feeling the same.
I didn't have time to say anything else before Wily barged into the living room to break up the arguement that was boiling over. Truthfully I wasn't really paying attention to the bots arguement, but I assumed it had something to do with me.
"If you want to fight over it then at least do it in private!" Wily scolded as he looked at me in the kitchen.
"Oh...! Oh. Sorry, Sir."
"Sorry, Cossack. Sometimes they just get carried away." Wily said as the living room went silent.
"No, it's fine." I said as Wily came to check on the dinner progress.
"That smells really good, what is it?" Wily asked as he peaked in the oven, but Wood quickly nudged him away.
"It'll be ready in a few minutes, so get your nose out of it." Wood teased as Bubble giggled.
Wily huffed a bit, but the two nature bots continued to smile.
"Sorry you have to listen to them fight like this, Cossack..." Wily apologized again as he looked around the room. "Where are your boys?"
"They weren't really feeling up to it. They have a lot to think about right now and they're feeling kind of, overwhelmed."
"Oh, that's fine! No sense rushing them! Actually, if dinner is going to be a few more minutes I might run back to the lab to do something quick. Start without me if I'm not back."
"Okay, Dad...But don't be too long, okay?" Wood said, looking a bit sad that Wily was leaving again.
"I won't."
Wood sighed as Wily left again, but he only shrugged a response my way.
"I'm going to introduce myself to your brothers. Any tips?"
"Well...the third line can be pretty, flighty. So try not to corner them. Our line is just scared when they're singled out, so you should be fine right now." Wood chuckled a bit as he armoured down, obviously a bit more comfortable with me now.
"Got it, wish me luck then."
I made my way around the kitchen island and counter to the living room. The rest of the Wily bots seemed to tense up now that they knew I was around.
I spotted Magnet, who was looking pretty exhausted on one of the couches. He had an open spot beside him as he lounged against the arm on the opposite side. I carefully sat down beside him as he pulled his feet up to make room. He looked incredible nervous, but it didn't look like he was going to run away. I returned his docile wave now from earlier, to which he seemed more than happy to let me sit at his feet now.
"Are your bots not coming to dinner?" I looked down at Spark who was sat on the ground infront of Magnet as he looked up at me curiously.
"No, they weren't really up to it. They're not sure what to think of all this yet." I admitted as he looked down.
"Oh...Well, I wouldn't want to hang out with us either."
"Well don't say that..." Magnet said as he gently pat Spark's shoulder. "I'm an absolute delight. I'd love to hang out with me." Magnet joked, obviously trying to get a smile out of Spark.
"Yeah, that's not the reason Spark, don't worry. They just need some time to themselves." I said, trying to sound sympathetic.
The silence after that was deafening. We really didn't know where to start with each other. I didn't want to ask about anything they would make them uncomfortable, and they clearly didn't want to talk to me either.
Drill appeared beside me quite suddenly, I hadn't even noticed he'd come in. None the less he snuggled up between my legs on the ground infront of me. I gently leaned over and rubbed his shoulders. I gave him a bit of a hug to encourage him, but he didn't seem too interested in introducing himself.
"Crash! Hey-"
Drill tried to push himself closer to me as Crashman wiggled his way over to us. He sat on his knees in front of Drill now and carefully tapped his drills against Drill's. My boy did not seem happy at all, but Crash looked absolutely smitten.
Metal quickly came over and hooked his arms under Crash's to pull him away from Drill.
"Crash, come on. Give him some space." Metal said as he struggled to pick the explosives bot up. He ended up just pulling Crash back a bit to sit on his butt instead. "You could at least introduce yourself."
"It's okay Drill, I'm right here." I soothed, but Drill didn't seem to be any more comfortable.
"You have drill hands too." Crash merely pointed out as his 'introduction'. Metal laughed as he sat down beside Crash now.
"Tell him your name." Metal rolled his eyes, which I found myself laughing at.
"Oh! I'm Crash! What's your name?" Crash questioned happily.
"...Drill." He eventually responded as the two second liners exchanged soft smiles.
"Do you have hands, Drill?" Crash blurted out now. Obviously the question had been eating him away.
"What?"
"Like, do you have hands too? Or just drills?" Crash said as he armoured down, showing off his arms stumps where he should've had hands.
"Where are your hands?! You don't have-" Drill blurted out now as he armoured down to gently lean forward and touch the wrist of Crash's arm.
"You have hands! I knew you would!"
"Why don't you?"
"Dad said they weren't a 'necessity' when I was first built. So I never got them, neither did Spark." Crash said as Drill kneeled now infront of him. "Dad swears he'll get around to it someday, but he's always too busy for us."
"I mean, I think it's safe to say we're never getting hands." Spark admitted, laughing a bit."
"What about...Needle? Doesn't he have..." Drill tried to motion but just ended up armouring up again to make his point.
"HE HAS HANDS THOUGH!!" Crash complained as I found myself laughing a bit. "He gets hands and we don't!"
"I'm sure Wily will get around to it eventually." Drill said as Crash and Spark happily smiled at him now.
"Yeah, hopefully. Flash and Snake have been learning too though, so maybe they'll be able to do it one day!" Spark smiled.
"Do what?"
"They're learning how to be medics! So they can fix us! Wily isn't a great teacher but they're learning a lot!"
That was a good move on Wily's part, teaching his bots how to fix each other. It saved him time in the long run, but he probably wasn't the best teacher. I'd imagine that the Wily bots go for long periods of time without being fixed though, so having some extra medics around would probably be a huge advantage.
"Okay, dinner's ready." Wood said as he brought over two plates of food. One for me and one for Drill. "The rest of you can fend for yourselves."
The Wily bots all flocked to the counter now as Wood took Magnet's spot on the couch.
"Wood this smells amazing!"
"Thanks! It's sheppards pie and steamed veggies! And I made an e-modified vesion for all of us." He smiled as he brushed his bangs back out of his eyes. "Wily probably won't be back for dinner since he left again, but no sense in waiting for him."
Wood took a couple of spoonfuls out of his meal before reaching for a book that was on the side table. He continued reading from the last bookmark.
"Dad..." Drill questioned as he looked down at his plate.
"You can try it, it's okay." I encouraged. "It's like an e-tank, but like....food?"
He armoured down again and carefully played with the fork in his meal. He did eventually take a fork full and test it.
"What do you think?"
"I...don't know. It's different..." he admitted as Metal and Crash came to sit back with us. Magnet had snuggled together with Top on one of the armchairs.
"It's the texture, once you get used to it you can focus on the flavour. It gets a lot better than plain old e-tanks." Metal said as he put the plate of food down on Crash's lap.
I watched as Metal dottingly scooped up portions of the meal to feed Crash. I guess with his lack of hands he couldn't really feed himself. I looked around for Spark to make sure he was being fed too, but it looked like he was doing pretty good with mooching off of his line to give him spoonfuls each.
"Spark doesn't eat a lot...It worries us, with him being an electrical manipulation bot too." Metal said as he noticed I was looking around. "He gets fed though, Needle sees to it that he eats his share."
"That's good. I'm glad you boys all help each other out."
"Well, we kinda have too. But it's good to know that we all have each others backs." Metal said as he fed another spoonful to Crash before feeding himself.
"Dr. Cossack?" A voice asked over the back of the couch softly.
I looked behind me to find the behemoth of a bot that was Hardman standing behind me. He seemed like he had something to ask me though.
"Yes, Hardman?"
"Do you think your bots would want to come and swim with us tonight? Probably not, but they wanted me to ask." He said as he looked back at his line who all blushed fiercely and looked away."
"I don't think they'd want to tonight. They're still settling in. Once they meet all of you then they might want to go."
"Okay."
I watched as Hard walked back to the semi-circle of Third liners and sat back down.
"They're really friendly...the Third liners." Crash said as Metal tried to wipe his face. "They get scared though. I don't like scaring them."
"You don't scare them, sometimes you and Heat just, startle them is all." Metal comforted as Drill looked up at me.
"Can I go swimming with them tonight?"
"Of course you can Drill! Whatever you want." I smiled as he cracked a smile back up at me. "Do you want to go and talk to them?"
Drill nodded; he handed me his plate of food, which was half eaten, as he got up to introduce himself.
"Did something happen between Drill and the others?" Metal asked as he leaned back a bit.
"Not that I know of, do you think something did?"
"I just find it strange that he decided to come out to dinner by himself. I didn't picture him being quite as, independent." Metal said, looking for the right word.
"Hmm, I might have to ask him about that later."
"I'm sure it's nothing and I'm just getting you worked up over it!" Metal scoffed, trying to play it off.
He did have a point. Drill wasn't one to break from the herd. If anything I would have expected him to have talked Dust and Toad into coming with him. Those three were pretty much inseparable when they were all home together. I should have noticed sooner, I should've know Drill wouldn't just come down by himself. Focus!
"I'll have to check in with them later."

Chapter Text

Of course Dad was right.
We were outnumbered, outclassed, and in the middle of nowhere.
Was I going to admit that he was right?
Pfft, no way in hell.
I sat myself up on the surprisingly plush bed and armoured down. At least I could have some alone time while the others were resting and Dad was down having dinner. My hands traced through my long black hair, gently pulling it back into a pony tail as I stood up.
All of the rooms were pretty void of anything too entertaining. They were obviously being set up for someone though, and it clearly wasn't planned to be us. There were a couple of pictures of the Wily bots around, which suggested that at least some of them frequented these rooms. I didn't really recognize who was in the pictures though; they were usually taken when they were out of their armour. I picked up a picture of a wavy green haired bot, who I had to assume was Bubble because he was up to his nose in what looked to be the ocean. Someone had photoshopped in the subtitle 'cryptid spotted' and, I mean, I had to give them credit for that. It was pretty funny.
I put the photo down as I heard some gentle knocks on the door. Must be Bright or Drill; the two of them always had trouble sleeping. I made my way over and slid the heavy door open. I was surprised by my guest.
I immediatly went to close the door in the Wily bot's face, but he grabbed it before I got it all the way closed.
"Hey, wait! I just want to talk." Quick said as he held the door open and barged in.
"Well I don't want to talk. So kindly, fuck off." I crossed my arms and tried to look intimidating, but he'd caught me out of my armour.
"I know you're pissed, and you have every right to be! But, I just wanted to make sure you and your brothers were settling in okay." He said, armouring down to match me. "We're sorry, we didn't want to drag your family into our mess."
"Well, you're a bit late for apologies. And I don't want to hear them."
"Ha! Well fine! I'm glad I left talking to you 'til last. Your brothers said you'd be moody about it."
"They said what?!"
"Cool off there, bandages! They just said you weren't taking this very well."
"Well they're wrong. I'm doing fine. I couldn't care less actually." I pourly bluffed as I sat down and crossed my legs.
"You don't have to act all tough, Pharaoh. They aren't watching you right now." Quick said as he sat down beside me. "I know they all look up to you, so you'll probably end up being their line leader. But, Magnet and I want to make sure you guys all get through this together. He's pretty upset about this whole thing too."
"You shouldn't be."
"Why not?! We didn't want this! And now look what's happened!" Quick huffed as he crossed his arms. "Can you just say thanks so we can get on with this?"
"Hhhhhhh...Thanks, I guess. Now get out."
"Line leader meeting is at 9:00 tomorrow morning in the livingroom. Team group up it at 10:00." Quick said as he stretched. "We can group everyone up in the training hall upstairs for that though. But don't be late to your 9 o'clock."
"Fine. What time is it now anyways."
"It's just after 7:00. Lights out is at midnight, but it doesn't really matter. Wood said he'd bring you guys dinner if you didn't come down to join us though." He got up and made his way to the door to show himself out. "9 o'clock, don't be late."
"I've got it."
"Perf, goodnight bandages!"
I rolled my eyes as Quick closed the door behind himself. I flopped back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling; I didn't think I was acting that bad. I guess so if even the Wily bots were worried about me. Understandably I had a lot to be upset about, but I still had to be strong for the others; they depended on me to be the one with all of the answers. Well, sometimes. When Dad wasn't around at least...and he'd gone absolutely mad! I couldn't believe he'd gotten himself stuck in this mess with us! He was being stupid! Even if he HAD left us behind and taken Kalinka home we would have gotten back to him eventually! It's not like we'd want to stay with Wily forever! Right?
I mean...I guess if he had surrendered us to Wily he could've changed our A.I. to make us more like his bots. Then we'd probably never go back home. This would be our home...Which means we'd probably forget who Dad and Kalinka even were, and we wouldn't be as worried about having to fight Rock as we currently were. We'd be Wily bots, and there's no going back after that. Just look at the third liners! They were half Light, right? And they probably don't have any idea what their lives could be like! I mean...not that Light wanted them back, he was too worried about what Wily had programmed into them. They probably had no desire to live a worker bots life anyways after experiencing this. Why would anyone ever go back to the daily grind if...huh...
Okay, Dad did make some good decisions. But now he was stuck here with us! And so was Kalinka! And she was alone with all of those gross Wily bots! Disgraceful! She at least deserves to be with us if we're stuck here together. She must be miserable by herself like this. The next Wily bot I could corner I was demanding they tell me how Kalinka is.
Sure enough.
There was another, much lighter, knocking on my door before it opened slowly. A brunette in a soft brown sweater greeted me softly.
"Hello, Pharaoh. I heard you weren't feeling up to dinner tonight, so I brought some leftovers for you." Wood said as he held a plate of, food? Must be modified e-tanks.
I rolled onto my side as he set the plate on one of the side tables beside the bed.
"You...you don't have to eat it either. Your Dad was just worried that none of you were eating." He paused as he carefully sat down at my feet. "We were-"
I cut him off as I snapped upright and did my best to pin him down. He looked, well, not quite shocked. More, disappointed? Whatever.
"Tell me how Kalinka is, or...or else I'll-"
"She's fine! I promise! We wouldn't hurt her. She had dinner earlier, and she's getting ready for bed now." Wood said, trying to keep a calm composure.
"I...hm..." I leaned back, letting Wood's arms go. "Good." I got up and brushed myself off. "Leave me. I need to rest."
"Ha, yes your majesty." Wood chuckled. "But your robot master tone doesn't work on me. Heads up. Goodnight, Pharaoh."
"Ah- Yes, goodnight, Woodman."
Well, I just made a fool of myself. Again. I flopped back onto the bed and shoved my face into a pillow. Okay, no more funny business. I'm a Wily bot line leader now. I make my own rules, I look out for my line, and I do all the other things a line leader does. Like, early morning meetings, apparently.
Whatever. If I wanted to get my family out of this in one piece I had to take things seriously.
I looked towards the modified food curiously. I wonder if it was as good as the stuff I had in Egypt...I stuck my finger in what looked like mashed potatoes and brought a small amount to my mouth.
Oh god, that was heavenly.
Why couldn't Dust cook like this? Well, a few reasons come to mind. One being that he's almost never home, and when he is he's always sleeping when he isn't helping Kalinka cook.
Okay, line leader meeting (9 o'clock, don't be late), team meeting 10 o'clock in the training hall, group everyone up to get to know the Wily bots, and get the recipe to Wood's modified food. Yeah, that sounded like a good enough list to start with.

.....

I left Pharaoh alone as I closed the door snuggly behind myself. I rolled up my sleeves to look at my wrists where he'd grabbed me. It didn't look like anything serious, certainly nothing I'd want to trouble Dad with. Maybe Flash or Snake would check it later, but I was pretty sure I was fine. Geez, I hadn't been roughed up like that in a while.
I honestly prefered to stay away from it though. I'd had my fill of violence. I just wanted to enjoy life while I could.
My makeshift foodcart rolled down to the next door as I grabbed another plate off of it. The medical dolly had been lying around in the hallway, so I think it was enjoying the new purpose.
Again, I knocked on the door and gently gostled the door open.
"Hello?" I asked, I'd only known Pharaoh was in the end room because I'd run into Quick while he was heading back to our wing of the castle and he'd told me.
I was met by two bots this time, both who seemed to be on the verge of tears. Okay memory, Toad and Dust? Yeah, that sounded about right.
"Oh- Oh please don't cry." I said as I put the plate back down on the dolly and went to join the two on the bed. "I know, I'm sorry."
"What? No, you don't have to be sorry..." Toad wiped his eyes feircely as I sat down beside him.
"It's not your fault, you're just following orders." Dust agreed as he armoured down. Toad quickly followed suit, getting a bit more comfortable.
"No, it is our fault. We should've talked Dad out of it. We didn't need to drag your family into our mess." Oh god, now they were definitely going to start crying! Change the topic, change the topic! "So, um...how have you-" I stopped dead as I felt two sets of arms wrap around my waist.
The two Cossack bots were just loosing it, bawling their eyes out. I did my best to comfort them, but I was honestly a bit shocked that I was sandwiched in the middle of the sobfest.
"Come on, no tears guys! It's all going to be okay." I struggled to rearrange myself with the two smaller bots attached to me at the hip, but I did manage to get into a more comfortable sitting position. "Great, now you're making me cry..."
It wasn't fair! Why did it have to be them! Their whole family! We're going to ruin their lives! We could have just gotten any random eight robot masters! There aren't even eight Cossack bots! And Cossack! He was never supposed to be here! Wily was going to ruin his reputation! Kalinka was still stuck here too! This was no place for a young girl like herself! We can hardly take care of ourselves let alone a human child! This was so much worse than Dad had said it would be.
It took us all a moment to recompose ourselves and break from the group hug. I wiped my eyes quickly, trying to be the bigger bot here.
"Wood, you smell really good." Dust mumbled lightly as I laughed.
"Oh! I probably smell like dinner! I actually came over to bring you guys some left overs. Your Dad wanted to make sure you were all eating. Are you two hungry?"
"Starving!" Toad replied, sounding relieved that they were being fed.
I quickly brought the two their plates of food, which they scorfed down like starved animals. I guess the stress was partially to blame for their appetite; I doubt they were used to skipping meals like we were.
"Is it good?" I asked lightly.
"This is amazing Wood, Thank you." Dust smiled as he patted my shoulder.
"No problem! I'm glad you like it." I loved making food, so when it turned out edible it was a nice bonus. "I should go and feed your brothers now, if you two are any indication they're probably starving."
"Did you happen to see Drill on your way here? He said he was going to find Dad, but..." Toad asked before I could leave.
"He came down and had dinner with us, don't worry." I smiled back. "Goodnight you two."
"G'night, Wood."
I carefully closed the door behind myself and leaned against the wall. I rubbed the bridge of my nose, crying not to burst into tears again. If all of the visits were going to be like that I was going to need more fluids by the end of the night.

Chapter Text

"Pharaoh? Are you awake?" I gently knocked on the room door as the rest of my gang stood behind me, waiting for a response.
It had gotten a lot later than I'd intended, but the rest of my boys were still awake when I'd come up to check on them. Drill had gone with the third gens to go swimming, but the rest of my boys were around.
"Do you want me to knock?" Dive asked as he puffed up his chest.
"No no! It's fine Dive. I don't want to wake him up if he is asleep. Let's go to the kitchen to talk." I said as the four of them followed me down to the community area.
Luckily, it looked like everyone else had cleared out for the night too. I found my way over to the couches in the living room and made myself comfortable; Bright was immediately at my side with his hands gently around my waist.
"Did something happen with Drill? He seemed really upset earlier." I asked as my other three boys found spots around the couch.
"Well..." Dust started as he shoved his hands in the front pocket of his sweater.
"It's not your fault Dust, you two were just a bit...too spicy with each other." Toad tried to console his brother, but I could tell Dust was still upset.
"Things got out of hand. I'll apologize in the morning. I shouldn't've blown up like that around him, I know he's upset too."
"You can't blame him for being curious though. He wants to meet new people all the time." Toad added as I started to put the puzzle pieces together.
"Yeah but those aren't people! They're Wily bots! It's different!"
"You can't just tell him to stay with us and never talk to them!"
"I know, but what if they tell him...I don't want him getting ideas about, this!"
"For fucks sake! He isn't going to turn into one of them Dust!" Toad yelled.
"BUT HE COULD! HE COULD AND YOU KNOW HE WOULD!"
"NO HE WOULDN'T! Don't you trust him?! He's not going to choose them over us!"
"News flash, Toad! He kinda already has!"
"That's enough you two." I said strictly; ending to conversation before if could escalate again. "Drill isn't going to pick anybody over anybody else. He just wants to get to know them while we're here. And I highly suggest the rest of you boys do the same."
"Whatever...I'm going to bed." Dust huffed as he got up.
"Dust, this is a family meeting. You can't go to bed in the middle of it." Dive said, gently grabbing Dust's arm.
"What, are you gunna make me? Some family meeting this is anyways, we're already missing three people." Dust yanked his arm out of Dive's grip and left. Dive looked like he was going to get up to follow but I stopped him.
"It's okay Dive...He just needs some space. I just wanted to check in with you all, but I can clearly tell that you aren't all adjusting well."
"Dust can't stay mad for long, he'll probably forget about it by morning." Toad said as he crossed his legs awkwardly. "I'll leave him alone for the night."
"I think we all just need some time to cool down. But I really am encouraging you boys to go and at least talk to the Wily bots. I don't think it'll hurt to get to comfy with them. I mean, they'd probably enjoy some new company too."
"They're mean though." Bright responded quietly from my side.
"I don't think they're as mean as Light makes them out to be. You're all probably a lot more alike then you realize."
"Dad, they're still the enemy, and they still pose a great risk." Dive pointed out.
"They aren't going to hurt you, not on purpose. If they don't have orders to then they won't."
"We should still be aware of the threat."
"Yes, of course. But you do have to get to know the enemy at some point too."
Dive simply nodded in response now.
"Oh! Cossack! Perfect, we-" I turned around to find Gemini standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He seemed to have just noticed I was with company.
"We..." he said as he quickly divided himeself into four, "were just wondering if you wanted to come and say goodnight to your daughter. We shouldn't be...but she's just so sad knowing that you're all here now but she isn't allowed to see any of you."
"Oh, oh Gemini, I'd love that. Thank you."
"Yeah, whatever. Just don't make to much noise or Wily'll kill us."
"I guess that'll be all for the night. You boys probably want to get some rest anyways." I stood up, picking Bright up with me and handing him off to Dive. "I'll see you boys in the morning."
"Goodnight, Dad"
"Yeah, tell Kalinka we said hi too."
"I will. Goodnight boys."
I followed Gemini as he dissolved into two forms instead of four, but I could tell he was still pretty nervous around me. Wood had said the third line was flighty, so I was already surprised that Gemini had come to find me at all.
"Magnet is very curious about Pharaoh." Gemini said quite suddenly, but I couldn't tell which one had actually been the one to speak.
"Oh? How so?"
"We aren't sure, he just seems distracted when speaking about him. He expects great things out of him."
Hm, that was quite humbling to hear. But, I'm sure Pharaoh would have some choice words to fire back.
"Magnet has been having some, issues, lately. If he does come to talk to you; I hope you'll listen. He doesn't seem to listen to us."
"What about?"
"Recently it's been a lot about self worth...which he probably shouldn't be talking to us about..."
Oh! Gemini was talking about himself as a multiple! Not his whole line.
"He talks a lot about feeling inadequate: like he could be so much more but he's held back by...well, we're sure you can guess." He paused as he finally dropped his last doppleganger and looked me eye to eye. "He needs a different point of view, and a challenge. We're hoping you and your bots can give him that."
"We'll try our best, thank you for sharing." I smiled, trying to get a friendly gesture out of the twin.
"If he asks, we weren't the ones to tell you." He responded flatly as he knocked on a door we had stopped infront of. "Make it quick, I'll keep watch."
"Thank you."

......................................................................

"I'm worried."
"About what?"
"About Cossack."
"Well no shit 'about Cossack', I meant more specifically."
I rolled my eyes at Flash as I stretched further onto his lap. The rest of my line was out swimming or with Kalinka, so I was enjoying some quiet time in the second gens lab with Flash.
"I mean I'm worried about the bots he's going to make. I don't want them to turn out...like us." I clarified as Flash ran his hands gently through my hair as I rested my head against his thigh.
"I'd be lying if I said the thought hadn't crossed my mind as well."
"You don't think they'll be too different from the rest of the Cossack's right? Like, Cossack wants them to go home with them after, but what if they end up more like us?"
"Well, they wouldn't be able to work jobs like the other Cossack's. They'd need significantly more family contact and attention." Flash started. "They're never all home together like we are."
"Well yeah, because they all work. This is probably the first time they've had some quality family time in a while."
"Do you think they'll all like being together the same way we do? Are they drawn to one another for attention or do you think they depend more on Cossack for their positive reinforcement?"
"Probably Cossack. He has time to get to all of them. But either way, adding another two bots to the mix isn't going to make things easier for any of them." I said as I gently touched Flash's arm as he sighed.
"We can help them though, and make sure they don't turn out like us. I want them to go and have a good life after this."
"I'm kinda excited to see Cossack's process too. I mean, we've got to help Dad with the new ones, but I want to see what Cossack does differently."
"That is, if Cossack let's us near his new bots. He probably won't want any of us near them." Flash laughed a bit as he leaned back and pulled me in closer on the nursing bed we were sharing comfortably.
"I don't think he's going to keep himself seperated. He already seems pretty interested in all of us." I said as I pressed my face against Flash's chest, his hands still rooted in my hair.
"Maybe he can teach us some more too. I love Wily's distracted lectures and all, but I feel like he's leaving important things out while he's trying to show us how things work." Flash gently began to move one of his hands down to my waist. "Do you want to head to bed for the night? It's been a long day."
"I don't mind staying up to talk; besides, line meeting isn't until 10 tomorrow." I said as I let my hands trace their way up Flash's body, carefully wiggling their way under his shirt.
"Fuck, your hands are cold!" I laughed as Flash attempted to squirm away now, but I pinned him down. "You're getting better at this."
"What can I say, practice makes perfect." I shrugged as I sat up, straddling myself over Flash's hips. Gently beginning to grind against him.
"Wait...can we, not do it tonight?" Flash stopped me as he gently squeezed my hips. "It just feels weird with so many new people around who could stumble in on us." He blushed.
"Oh! Yeah of course..." I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. "No that's fine, I understand."
"Thank you, I know it's been a while."
"It's fine, love." I smiled as I gently put my hands to his face. "Some other time."
"I promise." Flash agreed as I slid off of him now and back onto the bed beside him. "Should you head back to your room?"
"I'd rather just...spend the night here. If that's okay with you."
"Oh! Yeah!" He practically jumped at the chance. We didn't spend nights together usually.
I gently pressed myself against his side, resting my head against his chest. His hand awkwardly found it's way down my back to pull me closer. I guess sometimes it was nice to be this close to others.
"Snake?"
"Mmh?"
"Can I, kiss you?" Flash asked shyly.
"You...you know how I feel about that."
"I know, only real couples kiss like Magnet and Top, but, I dunno. It just seemed like a nice moment, nevermind."
We had been holding out for a long time on the whole 'relationship' thing. What we had now worked for both of us, and we didn't want to mess it up with a silly title. Sure, fuck buddy wasn't exactly a glorious title, but it meant we didn't have to awkwardly explain to our brothers what exactly we did when we locked ourselves in the lab for 'lessons'. I mean, in all honesty it started off as Dad's anatomy lessons, and well. Yeah, that's off topic.
I rolled my eyes as Flash tried to look away. I easily ran my hand under his chin and pulled myself closer to place a smooch on his cheek. I leaned back and readjusted myself on his chest.
"It didn't happen. Goodnight, Flash."
"Uh...yeah...good, goodnight, Snake."

Chapter Text

I groggily found my way to the kitchen a few minutes before 9:00. The rest of my line was all asleep, but I didn't find Dust in any of the rooms last night; which, admittedly, had me quite worried. I figured he couldn't've gotten far though, the Wily bots would be all over us if he's tried to stage an escape.
"There you are! Good morning, bandages." Quick practically yelled as I rounded the corner to the kitchen. He and Magnet were sat on the counter top watching the kettle boil.
"It's Pharaoh."
"Oh, I know...Your make-up looks horrible."
"My-!" Oh god, please... "...It's been a long night." I caught my reflection on the microwave window, and Quick was right.
"It's fine. Wood and Gemini can probably help you get some new stuff while you're here." Quick said as I dipped my hands under the tap and rubbed some water on my face. I could already feel my mascara running.
"You're really pretty." Magnet half blurted out as I looked back at him. "I mean! Your eyeliner! It's really pretty the way you do it." He blushed fiercely before looking away.
"Uh...thank you? I guess."
"Ahem, I think what Magnet is trying to say is that it compliments your design well." Quick interupted as he shot a feirce look at Magnet. "The pharaoh design, it works well for your god complex."
"I don't have a god complex."
"Not according to Wood, your majesty." Quick teased as I rolled my eyes. "Do you drink tea? Coffee?"
"Uh, no...Da- Cossack takes coffee though."
"Okay, we'll wrap this up quick then so you can bring him some." Quick said as he pulled down another mug from the cupboard.
"Is he not already awake?"
"No, Shadow already snuck in to check. He was still asleep. He's had a long night though." Magnet said, having finally recomposed himself.
"Well that's not creepy at all."
"Shadow has his ways. He does it out of caring." Magnet tried to justify, but ended up looking pretty defeated. "He always means well."
"Whatever, it's fine." I shrugged. "So why the early morning meeting?"
"We just like to check in with each other on Mondays. It's always good to know the game plan for the week. We have an evening meeting on Saturday too to check in with each other."
"This job...it gets to you. Don't get me wrong, I love being a line leader, but...there's parts of it that aren't as glamourous." Magnet sighed as he stirred a spoon around an empty cup. "You need the support sometimes, it's hard to explain."
"Yeah, well I can imagine."
"Ha! We'll see about that." Quick laughed as me. "So, I guess we should give you the plan for the week?"
"I mean, that's why I'm here."
"You will all need to be modified and equipped with weapons this week, so we probably won't get to any training." Quick said as Magnet nodded along.
"Right, so we won't be running anything too intense this week. We'll be doing our regular work-outs this week though, so your line is welcome to join in." Magnet added.
"Alright. That'd probably be for the best. I want to get them all used to combat training before they're weaponized. Then at least we won't all be stumbling over each other."
"That's what we were thinking. Anyways." Quick waved off my comment, even though I didn't think it came off as THAT salty. "We also wanted to get to know your family a bit better. I mean, if we're all going to be stuck here together we might as well learn a little something from each other."
"Right, my line already got to meet Drill. He's such a sweet heart, we loved hanging out with him last night. It's not often that Spark likes talking to strangers, but he warmed right up to him." Magnet half smiled. "Oh, I don't know if you knew he was out with us last night for an evening swim."
"No, but that's fine. He's definitly the most curious out of me brothers. He warms up fast to anyone who's willing to start a conversation with him."
"You should've heard him last night talking to Crash and Metal too! He's so sweet." Magnet gushed.
"Well, I guess you'll get to see a lot more of him now. I'm glad you get along with him though, because the rest of us aren't...hmm...we aren't used to groups." I tried to word it elegantly. "We don't work with a lot of people. It's a lot of one-on-one and solo stuff. Some of them will probably prefer to stick with each other."
"Did something happen with Drill last night? Your Dad looked kinda worried."
"Oh...I'm not sure. He usually sticks to Dust and Toad like glue, so maybe they had an arguement? I don't know though...I kinda, locked myself in a room and slept, a lot."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with taking a little time to yourself." Quick pointed out. "I definitely understand that. But, you've got to remember that they only try to think within your best interest, whether it's right or not is another thing though."
"Yeah, I know. Dive and I shouldn't've been yelling at each other to start with either. It only got everybody else all worked up."
"It's okay to get tempers flaired up every now and again. It's inevitable. You just need to defuse the situation properly." Magnet said as he slid off the counter now and stretched.
"Yeah...hey, by any chance have either of you seen Dust? I couldn't find him this morning." I asked as the kettle finally boiled.
"Dust...uh, he's a dirty blonde? Shorter?"
"Yeah, Toad is more of a brighter blonde. And I guess you know what Drill looks like."
"We can check out wings of the castle. I didn't hear anything suspicious last night."
"I can ask Snake and Shadow if they've seen him too. They probably have. I'm sure he'll show up before team meeting though." Magnet tried to sound optimistic, but he seemed almost worried himself.
"Yeah, I'm sure it's nothing...But, if you do find him-"
"We'll let you know, don't worry." Quick cocked a smiled at me. "See? You're going to be a great line leader! Already worrying so much!"
"Quick, it's our job to worry."
Quick mearly laughed as Magnet slid off the counter to stand beside me now. I guess we were done here then.
"Here, Pharaoh. Take this back to Cossack and wake your line up. Team meeting is in 40 minutes." Quick said as he handed me the cup of coffee.
"If you want to redo your make-up before then I can bring you some of Gemini's. I'm sure he wouldn't mind...to much." Magnet added.
"It's fine, I'll just wash it off for now and redo it later."
"Okay, yeah..."
"Oh! And no Dad's allowed at team meetings!" Quick added as he picked up his own mug and took a sip from it. "It's kinda just for us, so tell Cossack whatever you need to."
"Yeah, okay. I'll see you then."
"Just come and find Magnet and we'll give you a rundown of how it goes."
"Yeah, I've got it. See you."
I turned and took the mug of hot coffee back towards our wing of the castle. This definitely meant I was going to have to stand infront of everyone and give a speech. I'm a line leader now though, this is what line leaders do. I need to be responsible like Quick and Magnet are. Speaking of, what had gotten into Magnet? Like, I knew I looked good with eye liner, that's why I wore it. And surely he wasn't trying to flirt with me...right? Not that I would be interested or anything, he was a Wily bot. I wasn't exactly sure how Dad would react to me dating ANYBODY let alone one of the Wily bots.
I knocked on Dad's room door before I opened it, letting myself in. Luckily, he was already starting to stir as I put the mug down on the nightstand. Huh, this nightstand sported an old photo album like Dad kept at home. I wonder if it had any pictures in it. Surely that would be something to investigate later though.
"Good morning, sir." The last word gritted off of my tongue; but, that's how the Wily bot's called Wily. "I brought you coffee."
"Ah, thank you Pharaoh." Dad said as he sat up and stretched. He patted the bed beside him for me to sit, but I shook my head in response.
"I have to get going, we have team meeting at 10. I was just coming back from line leader meeting and thought you'd like a pick-me-up."
"Meetings? Have you ever been to a meeting in your life." Dad tried to joke with me.
"Yes, I just was. With Quick and Magnet, and we discussed some plans for the week."
"Oh, Magnet-!" That seemed to charge Dad's memory a bit. "Ah, nevermind that. How are you doing?"
"I'm doing fine. I would like to get going though." I tried to keep a straight face as Dad frowned.
"You aren't still mad, are you?"
"What-? I...no. I'm not mad." I huffed. "I have to go get the others up now. Quick and Magnet said that you are not welcome at team meet up. In the mean time may I suggest beginning blueprints for the new bots." I gently nodded. "We'll be back later."
"Okay, Pharaoh. You know you can still talk to me like-"
"We'll talk later, I really need to get going."
"Of course...don't let me hold you up."
I turned and left without another word to Dad. God, this was going to be tough.
I WAS going to be a good line leader though. Soon enough those kinds of conversations would come second nature to me. I couldn't just talk to Dad the same way we always did. Well, I guess sometimes we could, but this was about meeting stuff. It was serious, so we needed to have a serious conversation. We could still talk like we used to...right? This line leader stuff was already getting too complicated.

..............

After the team meeting we all went our seperate ways to 'socialize'. I don't think my brothers actual understood that I wanted them to talk to the Wily bots now, but I guess it would come in time. For now they'd all gone back to our rooms; and Dive said he was going to tell Dad how things went. Well, save for Drill who was happily gossiping with Spark and Gemini. He looked like he was having a good time though, so I wasn't worried.
Dust had shown up to the meeting too, which was odd concidering the others only heard about it a couple minutes before. Maybe I'd get to ask him later, but he seemed pretty distant during the meeting.
Which, was complete hell. Quick, Magnet and I had stood infront of this crowd and made this speech for like 20 minutes, and then we just kind of awkwardly went over everyone's names and crap and then called it. I literally just stood beside Magnet and tried to look like I knew what was going on, and I know for a fact that Wood was making faces at me because HE KNEW that I was winging it. Not to mention he totally called me out right at the beginning because my make-up was still smudged. FUCK this guy! I mean, he clearly meant well, but I was having a hard enough time without him pointing out that I looked like shit.
"Pharaoh?"
I snapped out of my trance as I heard my name. I looked up only to have a small pen of eye liner shoved into my hand from behind. I looked down at the small gift and gratefully shoved it in my front pants pocket. I turned around to find Wood, looking awefully somber.
"Quick said not to tease you, I didn't know it bothered you that much."
Oh...Oh!
"Ah, it's fine." I stuttered a bit as I processed the apology. "Thank you."
"No problem, your majesty." Ah yes, there was the joke. "But seriously, if you need anything else Gemini or I probably have it.
I nodded in understanding as Wood left and melted back into his crowd of brothers. Well, at least I could get somewhat back to normal. Maybe when I was feeling more adventurous I'd ask for some eye shadow and such, but the eyeliner was a staple.
"Pharaoh, do you want to come and chill with us?" Quick asked as he motioned to Magnet. Must be a leader thing.
"Uh, yeah...can we stop by a mirror first though?" I asked quietly as I joined the two for their walk.
"Ah, did Wood get you the eye liner?" Quick questioned as he lead me down a hall I was unfamiliar with.
"Yeah, he did. Thanks again,"
"Hey, no problem. It's hard to focus when you aren't feeling like yourself."
He showed me into a bathroom where I pulled out the pen and began to reapply the layer of black.
"How do you do it?" Magnet asked as he leaned against the wall opposite the bathroom vanity.
"Do what?"
"Poke yourself in the eye like that? Top can never do it."
"What? I'm not poking my eye. Just the eyelid. You get better at it." I said as I blinked and examined myself. Acceptable.
"What do your brothers think?"
"About my make-up? Honestly, this was probably the first time they've ever seen me without it. I think they think it's just part of my skin, so they were probably surprised this morning." I half laughed as Quick and Magnet snorted. "Okay, I'm good."
"Perfect. Come on, let's go out to the patio. It's so much nicer out there."
Magnet was right, it was a lot nicer on the patio. The island here was just beautiful too, and the air was so clean and fresh. They really did live on a little oasis; no one could bother them out here, the weather was warm, and the view from here was gorgeous. I pulled up a chair for myself as we all sat around a glass top table.
"So, how are you doing Pharaoh?"
"Me? I'm..." well, I guess I could be a little more honest. "I'm not doing great."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Magnet asked quietly as I shook my head. "We're here for you, okay."
"Right, and if you don't talk to us you should at least talk to your second, or your medic." Quick added.
"My what?"
"Your second-in-command, and your medic? Oh, I guess you'll probably need to sort that out still." Quick noted. "Your second is usually the one you confide in the most, and they usually have a pretty good standing in with everyone. They're more of the mediator between you and the rest of the line. Metal does an awesome job keeping me in check with everybody, and he's a good stand in when I'm out of commission."
"Metal really does go above and beyond...Shadow, well, he has times where he's been incredible valuable, but now that he spends more time with Wily." Magnet signed a bit. "I know he's put a lot on his plate, and Needle does such a great job filling in for him. But, I really can't see Needle ever taking over for me if I was to somehow be inconvenienced to the point of not being able to do my job."
"I think Needle would do fine in the short term." I tried to encourage Magnet to have a little more faith in his brother. "I'm sure if anything ever happened they'd all band together pretty quickly anyways."
"They would, don't get me wrong. I'm just not confident about the direction they would take under Needle's guidance, or Shadow's for that matter. My line is a bit of a mess, if you haven't noticed."
"Hey, at least you're medic is good." Quick seemed to joke at Magnet rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, if only he could keep his hands off of your medic."
"Flash needs a companion like that though, he'd be insufferable otherwise."
"Yeah, but Snake doesn't. That's the only problem. And what happens when they've had enough of each other?"
This 'meeting' seems to have turned more into a gossip fest. At least I was learning some valuable information. It did really bring up a question though of who my second-in-command would be. I trusted Dive an aweful lot, but he wasn't one to really give orders. He was better at taking them and just, following along obediently. Bright was out of the question too, he was too shy to give orders, even though he'd probably make for a great strategist. Now it was between Toad, Drill, and Dust, and none of them really stood out like how the other described their second's. Dust would probably love to be a medic, but Bright had that role pretty locked in. Maybe Dust? Dust could be a bit aggressive at times, but he did have a good standing with everyone. He really did do everything out of concern for us though, whether he intended to or not. He was probably the one with the closest grasp on the extent of our situation right now too. Maybe I could just, involuntarily work him into that position.
"Did he fall asleep or something?" Quick laughed as I snapped back to reality.
"What? No! I was...just thinking." I blushed a bit, but not as red as Magnet was. Quick must have embarrassed him over something.
"Clearly. But back to my question. Is there a special someone for you? Somewhere out there missing you?"
"What?! No! Why would I...!?" They both looked pretty taken aback by my outburst. "I mean, no. I'm not seeing anybody."
"Would you ever? Could you?" Quick asked, clearly already engrossed in the topic.
"Where did this come from?! And I don't know!? Maybe? I mean, I could definitly, if that's what you're implying. But why would I?"
"Ah, there you go. He's a virgin." Quick teased as Magnet blushed even deeper.
"WHAT!"
"Well have you!?"
"Well, no. But why is this important?!"
"Don't worry, we can hook you up."
"Quick!!" Magnet whined as I felt myself reddening.
"Wait, what parts do you have?"
"DO WE REALLY NEED TO BE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION!" I wheezed as I tried to think of an escape.
"You totally have both don't you. You kinky fucker." Quick laughed, obviously amused by how blushy Magnet and I were getting.
"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"
Quick was wheezing he was laughing so hard. Great, now I'd made a fool of myself again. At least Magnet look apologetic.
"Okay, I have both. You happy?"
"Oh yes. Very." Quick motioned suggestively as I cringed.
"If you mean-"
"NO! He doesn't mean like that!" Magnet finally blurted out. "He's just horny and lonely, ignore him."
"Aw what?!"
"CHANGING the topic!" Magnet shot a glare at Quick.
"Wait! One question real quick! If you had to choose-"
"QUICK!"
"No it's good wait! If you had to choose one of us Wily bots. Who would you-"
"Quick! Not appropriate!" Magnet leaned over the table and smacked at Quick, which admittedly got a laugh from me.
At least I knew I could have some fun around these two. I didn't have to play line leader all the time.
"Well, I mean. If you're asking." I suggested as Quick's laugher turned to a small blush.
"What! I'm-"
"No you dope! He's messing with you!" Magnet butted in as I laughed.
"Ha...Don't be mad, just because he didn't say you-" and with that Magnet's chair flung out from underneath him as Quick took off in a mad dash. That left Magnet and I standing together though.
"Uh...so..."
"Do you want to grab some lunch?" I asked, which thankfully he smiled and nodded to.
"Lunch would be great."

Chapter Text

"Hey Dust! Wait up!"
I kept walking as footsteps ran up behind me.
"I don't want to talk Toad." Frankly, I just wanted to actually get some decent sleep.
"What? Why not?" Toad asked, sounding pretty hurt.
"I just don't, okay."
"No! Not okay! Where did you go last night?! We were worried this morning when you weren't back."
"None of your business, Toad." I said as I stepped into one of our designated rooms as he followed.
"Dusty, please..."
I sighed as I flopped myself onto the bed. Toad was quickly behind me and perched himself at the foot of the bed as I fluffed the blankets.
"I'm not in the mood Toad, please just leave me alone..." I asked somberly as he lied down and pulled the opposite end of the blanket as I tried to make myself comfortable.
"Are you going to take a nap?"
"Yes...that's the plan at least."
"Can I sleep with you? I didn't sleep well last night."
I rolled my eyes, but I fluffed the blanket up as he quickly snuggled up against my chest. I pulled him in tightly and rested my chin against the top of his head.
"If you ask anymore questions about last night I will kick you out and make you sleep with Dive."
"I won't! Dive snores like a dumptruck."
"It's called a threat for a reason."
At least I got a bit of a half hearted laugh out of Toad as he closed his eyes. I shifted myself around to get comfortable too. The long stressful night I'd had was catching up with me quick. I couldn't believe I'd spent the entire night out, I'd never pulled an all nighter before. This was torture, how did Dad do it? Either way, the ache in my shoulders and feet was getting to the point where I felt like I was going to fall over during team meeting. At least Needle had let me lean against him for a bit.
I don't think anybody noticed I'd leaned against him for the majority of the speech, but neither one of us was going to call the other out. At least, I hoped we weren't. Last night did get pretty...weird thought. I guess we just caught each other off guard more than anything. There was just certain coding that I had to attend to, the most prominent being the need to clean. I should have expected to run into a Wily bot though, they did live here. I guess I just didn't expect them to actually care what I was doing up so late, or help me finish cleaning so I could try and get some sleep.
How we'd both ended up wandering around the fortress all night though was still very much a mystery to me. I figured Needle would have gone back to bed after he'd figured out it was only me out in the kitchen making noise, but he's stayed and tried to strike up a conversation. He'd walked me back to our wing of the castle, and when I'd told him I couldn't sleep he offered to walk with me around the island. It wasn't really a friendly gesture, or even a surveillance kind of order; more like a suggestion. I'd agreed, of course, but we'd just ended up walking and talking. About life, weather, fear, the world, the night sky, family...okay, so it was mostly about family. He'd mostly talked about his family too, and how they were all kind of going through some rough patches. It was painfully obvious to see just how much he cared for his brothers, but they were also clearly the reason he was also awake as such unreasonable hours.
I'd talked about my family too: how upset Pharaoh was, how I'd had that arguement with Toad and Drill earlier. But those were all things he already knew. Somewhere along the line I started talking about Isabelle, Kalinka's mom. I hadn't known her for long, but she'd only passed recently. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss her still.
Dive was brand new, maybe a week old, when she died in that car accident. They still say it was an accident, but I think we all kind of assumed that it wasn't. If that hadn't set Dad off to a life of villainy against anti-roboticists then nothing would. We'd all been poster children for pro-robotics campaigns since then, and we all absolutely hated it. It was only a bitter sweet reminder of what had to happen first to spur the movement.
I'd cried in front of Needle last night. Like, actual ugly cried. But he didn't judge me, he just let me get it all out; which was something I didn't realize I'd had to do. I didn't think I was still that upset though. I guess I didn't really have time to greive like the others...and I did deal with death a lot, but that was only in robots, not family members. I think Dad sent us all back to work so we wouldn't have time to be as emotional as he was though.
That still didn't change the fact that Pharaoh and I couldn't attend her funeral.
Pharoah still beat himself up over it, and I probably should more too. But, to simply not be invited, or even informed by your family about the date of your mothers burial service...
...
That was the one thing that was going to tear us apart here.
Being with family for an extended period of time tended to bring out only the worst of the family secrets.
It was no ones fault in particular, everything had happened so fast... I guess Pharaoh and I just weren't important enough to be invited. Either that or we just weren't welcome with the rest of the family.
Needle said that it was going to come up sooner or later now that we were all together again. I think the last time I'd actually been with the whole family was right after the funeral. We did really have a lot to talk about though; more, a lot of things to resolve. He told me that being able to sort through our problems together though only made us stronger. I wasn't sure I'd believe him just yet. I just don't think I could handle loosing another family member.
God, I don't know what I'd do with myself if one of us actually died here because of Wily. I'm sure Rock wouldn't really try and hurt us, but accidents still happened. I'd seen what Rock could do, and it wasn't pretty. Surely his first instinct wouldn't be to turn us inside out though, he still knew us! It's not like suddenly he'd just decide that we were better off dead. What would Dad do then?! Frankly, I didn't really want to think about it.
"Dusty...are you crying?"
I snapped out of my daydream and back into the moment. Opening my eyes face to face with Toad who was brimming with worry.
"It's-...It's fine. I'm sorry for snapping at you and Drill last night."
"Apology accepted. I know how worried you were..."
"I still shouldn't've yelled at you and him like that. I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry I was yelling at you last night at around everybody else too. I should've kept it between us."
"No, that's fine. It's better when we're all on the same page anyways." I gently pulled Toad back in closer to my chest as he sighed. "I was cleaning last night."
"What?"
"I was cleaning the kitchen last night once the rest of you went back to bed." I explained. "Then I cleaned the hall...and the lab, and the empty rooms. But, that's not important."
"You must be exhausted, did it take all night?"
"Yeah, all night." A little white lie was okay. It was practically all night.
"I guess that's kind of your de-stressor though. Are you feeling better now?"
"A lot. I just needed to get my priorities straightened out."
"Well, I'm glad you're feeling better."
"Me too." I chuckled a bit as Toad punched me in the gut lightly. "If you want a hand cleaning though I'd be glad to help. Maybe then you could've gotten some sleep." He jokes.
"You and Dive do not clean, you make more messes."
"Not true! I can be clean!"
"I've literally had to bathe you once you were so filthy." I teased as he huffed.
"That was one time okay! One time!"
"Yeah, and you were filthy." I laughed as I snuggled him closer.
I snapped back up as I heard a gently knocking on the bedroom door. Funny, I didn't think the Wily bots would be curious already.
"It's open!" Toad called as I quickly sat myself up and pushed him away.
"Oh-! Sorry, I was looking for D-"
I watched as Needle opened the door in shock; what was he doing looking for-
"Dive! Dive, I was looking for your brother Dive!" He recovered as I looked away. "Have you seen him?
"He went to tell Dad how the meeting went, he's probably still in the lab." Toad answered as Needle tried to hide a hint of blush.
"Ah, thank you. Carry on." He said as he made his exit and closed the door behind himself.
"Huh...wonder what he wants with Dive."
"It's probably nothing. Let's just try and get some rest." I said as I quickly pulled Toad closer so he couldn't see me blushing.
"Okay, goodnight Dusty."
"Yeah, night Toady, sweet dreams."
Why the hell would Needle come looking for...

Chapter Text

"Cossack, how are things coming along?"
I turned away from my blueprint drafts to find Wily toting a blonde bot around, who frankly barely looked awake or able to function. He didn't look familiar either, or at least, I hadn't seen him.
"Things are fine. Just drawing up some sketches." I felt Bright cling tighter to me as he sat on my lap. That was usually his spot of choice while I was doing anything in the lab back home.
"Perfect timing then. I came to see how you planned on weaponizing the new ones." Wily seemed completely uninterested with the fact that his blonde bot was now wandering around the room.
"Wea- I hadn't given it much though." I sassed back, remembering I technically still was Wily's captive. "I figured you'd already have something in mind."
"Well, you would have thought correct!" He boasted as he pulled up a chair and sat beside me. "Oh! I like that one." He said, pointing to a doodle Bright had been working on of a skeleton off to the side of the page.
"Figured you would..." Bright mumbled, sounding very unamused.
"So he does actually work with you, he's not just a lap dog." Wily teased as he poked at Bright.
"Yes!" I instinctively turned myself away, sheilding Bright from him. "He's helped me construct the rest of my boys as well. This time will be no different."
"Interesting indeed! So he'll probably be a medic..." Wily seemed to be deep in thought for a moment. "...so Flash would probably love to be...We can work on a time manipulation weapon for him later." He brushed off his ranting as I rolled my eyes. "I did really come to discuss your new bots, since they will be built with a more combat focus. You probably aren't as proficient in the feild as myself, so you probably have questions."
"Ha! I'm plenty familiar Wily. I choose not to build senseless fighters."
"Oh posh! You've spoken to my boys, have you not? What part about them says senseless fighter? They have all their wits about them! Well, most of them..besides the point!" He waved his arms frantically and picked up a clipboard from the desktop that was blank. "If it's easier, let's talk about your existing boys. What they would specialize in." He grabbed a pen and started jotting down series numbers.
"Well, I guess if you already have Bright pegged as a time manipultor we can work with that." I sighed, playing along now.
"Perfect. Flash will be more than happy to hear that..." Wily said as he wrote. "How about Pharaoh?"
"...Something fire based? He'd probably enjoy that. Adds a little extra flare to his design as well."
"Fire, good. A good commanding weapon...I guess Drill is pretty easy."
"Yeah, it'll be simple enough to weaponize his drills."
"Crash can probably show him a thing or too as well if you think he'd be able to handle explosives."
"I'm not sure. He has worked with them before, but I'm not sure how good he is with loud noises. He can startle easily."
"Dually noted, how about Toad?"
"A water weapon seems pretty obvious, since he is a dought management bot."
"There are a lot of differnet ways to do a water weapon though it's a very broad class to say the least. I'll put it down though. What about Dust?"
"Well, he's already a compactor. Getting a projectile into that system probably won't be too much of a hastle."
"So more of a heavy hitter, kind of like a strength aspect?"
"I suppose, if that's what you'd call it."
"Perfect, and that leaves us with Dive."
"Who is already weaponized, but I'm sure you already knew that." I huffed. "He has missile projectiles."
"Ah yes, I remember seeing that on his spec sheets. A very nice weapon indeed." He finished his noted. "So, we have some nice elementals to work with, and some projectiles. If you want to get some balancing then you should consider some shields, some terrain, and some flight class bots. Or at least, that's my opinion."
"I'm surprised you didn't say tactile and stealth."
"Well, that too...but, well, I guess I'm pretty tired with that type after my last line. It's a very good feild, but it has to work well with the rest of the line." He shrugged as he glanced back the the bot that he'd brought. "There are a lot of differnet classes to work with, explosives would be nice to have too. But, your line probably isn't willing to be as extreme as some of my boys are. You probably want to play more defensively; because well, you couldn't stand to see any of your bots actually hurt."
"Rock *won't* hurt my boys Wily. He knows them..."
"But, he won't know your new ones. He'll be suspicious...sceptical when he meets them. Frankly, they'll probably be your saving grace. Light and Rock don't expect you to make combat bots, they'll know something is up."
"So, what if I make two more...defencive bots, rather than offensive like the others. Minus Bright, of course. Time manipulation is used defencively." I reassured myself more than anything. If Bright got hurt...
"Adding some defence never hurt. They usually tend to turn out with a mellower attitude too, well, usually." I watched as Wily took his note off of the clipboard and safely rested it on the desk. "When their defences fail though, it leaves them very vulnerable. Most defencive bots don't have a strong ability with their secondary weapon. Even Flash isn't that good with his buster even though it's paired with the stopper weapon." Wily wiggled the pencil between his fingers as he turned his office chair around to look at the bot he'd brought with him, who was paying no attention to us at all and had picked up a book instead.
"Wh-"
"Shu-!" Wily hushed me as he wound up the pencil. "I really can't recommend defence enough though. They do really turn out to be great kids."
I watched in shock as Wily flung the pencil at the reading blonde and pegged him in the back of the neck. The blonde jumped, dropping the book, as his hand clung to the back of his neck. He turned around to face us just as Wily flung the clipboard in the bot's direction. The clipboard however, didn't make contact with the bot. It was skillfully swatted to the floor by a dazzling yellow...star? The bot produced more of the metallic objects to orbit himself with now that he anticipated the attack. He looked incredibly stressed though.
"Wily! You didn't have to-"
"I told you that you had to be more alert." Wily interrupted me, addressing the bot who seemed to be on the verge of tears.
"S...sorry, sir..." The bot sniffed as his feet gently reconnected with the floor.
Wait! This bot had been, hovering? Floating? So I really had never seen this bot before.
"Defence bots are great, Cossack. But only when they can channel themselves correctly. They are one of the most important factors to their line, and they need to know that. If defence fails they endanger the rest of their line." Wily was just driving home the fact for his bot at this point. But, that was pretty shallow of him to pull a sudden learning experience on the poor thing.
"It isn't a defence bot alone who protects the line, they depend on the rest of their line to watch their back as well." I added, trying to counteract the damage Wily was doing. "They need to know that their family has their back, and that the burden isn't completely theirs."
"Hmph, well, I guess there is some merit to that as well." Wily huffed as I shot him a look. "But, I do still strongly suggest defence bots. Just, be careful with their programming."
"Dually noted."
"I'll let you get back to it then." Wily said as he stood up.
His bot quickly bent over to pick up the clipboard and hand it back to him with a smile, but Wily swatted it out of his hands. What a prick!
"Stay! Watch." Wily said simply as he pointed to the lab doors.
The bot went rigid, giving Wily a tiny salute as he went to leave.
"Maybe you can learn something useful."
"Yes, sir. I'll try, sir."
"I WILL, sir." Wily repeated before leaving.
Well, this was awkward now. Did I just get dumped to babysit this bot?! He must still be really new if Wily's being this pushy with him, and his bot was actually taking him seriously.
"Don't let him get to you. He does really care about you boys...He worries." I tried to comfort, but his bot looked less than interested. He was listening though. "Come here." I motioned.
"Yes, sir..." I guess Wily hadn't programmed them NOT to listen to me.
"Tell me your name."
"DWN-037, Starman, sir."
"Starman, that's a nice name! Isn't it Bright?" I looked down at my boy as he caught Star's attention.
"It is! Can I call you Star?" Bright encouraged, having already gone through this facade with his younger brothers.
Star merely nodded to Bright in response, but he did seem a bit more curious again.
"What were you reading over here." I said as I got up and let Bright down to investigate around Star further.
"Uh-! Aerodynamics and Flight, sir."
"Oh yes, that would make sense." I nodded as I found the book again. "Do you fly, or do you only hover?"
"I am capable of flight, sir."
"Do you like it?" Bright asked, wide eyed.
"I am capable of it...?" Star answered back, looking a bit confused.
"Yeah, but do you like it? What does it feel like."
I smiled as Bright egged on the questions. The book had a bookmark in it though, with a couple of sketchy blueprints and plans for another bot that I had never seen before. They seemed a bit more, retro though? His blueprints were tucked in the propellers and lift part of the book, and the notes seemed quick and sloppy.
"It's...alright." Star finally managed to get out. "It seems more, natural."
"How so? Can you describe it?"
"I like it more than walking. I prefer it." Star nodded, happy with the sentence it seemed.
"Do your brothers also fly?" I asked.
"I...I'm not aware...sir! I'm not aware, sir." He said, and then corrected his tone.
"Have you met them yet?"
"I have not met all of them, sir. A handful, but not all." He replied. "Sir."
This was really nice. I forgot how pleasent it was to talk with new bots while they were trying to figure themselves out. They always said the cutest things, whether they intended to or not. These were Wily's newest sons though, not mine. So I didn't want to mess with them too much, but if I could give them some help every now and again I didn't see anything wrong with that.
"Do you like them?" Bright asked now as he pulled himself up on one of the tables to look Star more face to face.
"They seem to like me? I don't get to talk to them much."
"Well that's too bad. I bet your older brothers are nice to you too though."
"My...hmm, Flashman and Snakeman?"
"Yes! Do they not call themselves that?"
"That's not what Dr. Wily calls them."
"What does Wily usually call them." I questioned as Star looked back to me.
"Well, he usually calls them dumb and stupid, sir." I almost laughed. "They are medics, sir."
"Ah, well. They are medics, yes. But they are also your older siblings. Wily doesn't really mean to call them those other things, but he probably calls them that when he's frustrated with them."
"Understandable, sir." Star nodded as a smile started to creep along his face again.
"I bet they really like you too." I encouraged as Bright nodded.
"They don't yell at us like Dr. Wily does."
"Bah! Wily's just and crazy old man, he yells about everything." Well, I got a laugh out of Bright at least. I playfully picked up Bright as he continued to laugh. "He does really care about you and your brothers though. He might not sound like he does all the time, but he does."
"I...I know, sir. He's just...he doesn't have to be so mean about it...sir."
Hmmm, interesting.
"You think Wily's mean?"
"Well, yeah,...don't tell him I said that though!" He panicked a bit. "He'd have my head if he heard me say that!"
"Hey, it's okay! You can tell us anything, we promise we won't tell Wily." I tried to calm him down. At least he hadn't called me 'sir' that time. "Come on, bring it in kid." I invited Star into the group hug, but he looked quite, sceptical.
"You...what."
"Just, come here." I waved him over as he took a few steps forward. "I want to give you a hug."
I pulled him in quickly and rustled his hair with my arm around his shoulders. He did eventually relax and put his arms against my chest as Bright squeezed him around the shoulders from my other arm. Star seemed just red with embarrasment, but he was probably loving the positive attention. I gently brushed his bangs back and gave him a little smooch on the forehead before letting him go.
It was always amazing what a little positive re-enforcement could do for bots. They really lived off of this, and well, more importantly they craved it from people. A lot of roboticists will tell you that positive stimulation in the first few weeks of a bots life makes them happier overall, and that their personality as it develops in the early stages will really sway towards how you intended them to be. I wasn't sure exactly how Wily had programmed this bot but I mean a little positve re-enforcement couldn't hurt.
"Bright, why don't you read one of those books with Star. Preferably one that's not on mechanics if you can find one you think he'd like."
"Yeah! Come on Star! Books are great! You'll love reading!" At least Bright still got excited over books. He was clearly feeling more like himself already, even if he was dealing with a young Wily bot in the making.
I guess Star was part of Wily's next "project" then too. Probably that scribbled concept of a bot would be around here somewhere too, and he's probably getting the same treatment Star was from Wily. How did the others turn out that Wily had made? He said he'd hit some roadblocks, but Star looked to be pretty much complete. I guess Star might not know all of his line brothers though because they aren't complete yet; that would actually make a lot of sense. I hoped I'd get to meet them all if Star was any indication of how the others would be. I guess part of me too just really wanted to see how Wily's boys started life as well, just to compare to how my boys experienced their first few weeks.
I guess pretty soon I'd have to do the same with some new boys of my own. How was I going to do this? I clearly couldn't go with my usual rundown. Bright and I could still do the whole just talking and one on one timing, but they weren't going to be nearly as socialized as my others were when they were little. Geez, they were going to turn out all sorts of messed up. I guess I could ask Wily how he would ideally go about it, but his ideals and mine are very different, obviously.
We'd cross that bridge when we got to it though, and from what we had now that was still quite a ways away.

Chapter Text

I found myself in the kitchen again, scrubbing the dishes from the day and I'd just finished wiping down the counter and mopping the floor. I was actually having a lot of fun sliding along the freshly washed hardwood in my socks while I rocked out to some soft music from down the hall. I didn't know whos room it was coming from, but I recognized a lot of the bands that they were listening to. At least someone around here has good taste in music.
I nearly dropped the plate I was washing as I heard someone screech around the corner into the kitchen and completely wipe out on the clean hardwood. I whipped around to find Quick crumpled against the wall in a very uncomfortable looking pose.
"Ha! Oh my god!! HAAAA! Quick! Quick are you okay!" Magnet wheezed as he held onto the doorframe for support he was laughing so hard. He was quickly joined by Pharaoh, who looked like he was going to hyperventilate he was laughing so hard.
"Yep! Couldn't be better assholes." Quick huffed back as he sat himself up and gently examined his legs.
I quickly made my way over to help him up. Oh god, I just hurt a Wily bot! I was going to be dead! And Pharaoh was here! He was going to kill me!
"Here, are you hurt?" I asked worriedly as I offered him my hand.
"I'm good, don't worry!" Quick laughed a bit as he took my hand and pulled himself up. "Just a little bump, nothing major." He smiled warmly.
"Dusty, where have you been all day?" Pharaoh asked, looking a bit...intoxicated.
"I just had a nap, Toad wasn't feeling good so I slept with him."
"You're such a good brother, Dusty! I don't tell you enough, but you're the best!" Was Pharaoh going to start crying? Like honestly.
"Sorry Dust, we didn't know he was such a lightweight." Quick laughed a bit as he hooked an arm around Pharaoh's hip and pulled one of his arms over his shoulder. "Come on big guy. You need some sleep."
"No wait! Dust! Where were you last night?!"
"I was just cleaning around a bit. It's nothing to worry about." I assured my drunk older brother as he leaned against Quick heavily now. "It's really late though, you should be in bed. Maybe go and see Dad though, he'd probably love to talk to you right now." I snickered to myself as Pharaoh almost immediately started to stumble towards our wing of the castle. At least Quick and Magnet would get to have some fun with him while he cried to Dad over something stupid.
"Thanks for doing the dishes Dust." Magnet smiled as he quickly planted a kiss on my forehead. "We'll get Pharaoh to sleep, don't worry."
"Ah..." I blushed a bit at the not quite affectionate smooch. "Yeah, it's fine. Just, try not to wake up Dive, he gets cranky when you wake him up."
"Good to know. Thanks!"
"Welcome, good luck." I smiled and waved as they all disappeared down the hall.
At least Pharaoh was settling in. I mean, he made it blatantly obvious that he'd rather be anywhere but here, but at least he seems to have made some friends.
"I thought I heard you out here again." I turned to look up towards the third lines hall as Needle stood in the archway. "Have you slept at all yet."
"I slept earlier with Toad...Were you looking for me earlier?" I asked as I quickly distracted myself back with the dishes.
"I was. I wanted to make sure you were getting some rest after last night...You and Toad seem close."
"Well, we are brothers. We spend a lot of our free time together." I pointed out as he nudged up beside me and grabbed a dishcloth to start drying and putting away the already clean dishes.
"But, you're not...how old are you? If you don't mind me asking!" He shyly took back as he looked away.
"Physically, i'm almost 4 years now. Mentally I'm more 20? Early 20's-ish. It's hard to pin down."
"Phew, so I can ask if you're dating Toad then and you'll know what I mean." He more blurted out than anything.
"Ha! No, I'm not dating Toad. I see him too much as a brother than a partner. We're both more Dad's children than we are line-mates, if that makes more sense."
"A lot, actually." Needle puffed out a sigh of, relief? Seemed like it.
"Why do you ask?"
"I! Uh! Just wondering after I saw you two all cuddled together. You didn't seem glad to see me."
"Well, no, I wasn't. But, I'm over it now."
Okay, I didn't mean for it to sound like that. Needle looked away shyly, but he continued to dry dishes and put them away. Now he just looked sad though.
"I mean, you just caught me off guard." I tried to correct myself, but he already knew what I meant.
I mean, no, I wasn't exactly happy to see him looking for me. I guess I would have to get to know at least some of the Wily bots though if we're going to be here a while. Needle really didn't seem all that bad though; he was intimidating as fuck, but from our talk last night he just seemed like he was concerned for his family more than anything.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't've been looking for you. I know you can take care of yourself."
"No, Needle it's fine. I know you were just worried. I don't mind, really."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! I'm sure. I guess I just didn't expect you to care that much."
We were both quiet after that. At least I'd mended a bit of the damage I'd done. Needle still didn't really look at me, but that didn't really bother me as much as it probably should have.
The dishes went twice as fast though now that I had a helped, so I couldn't complain. Doing them at home was always a task and a half because Toad and Drill would always try and help, but they'd end up just playing around instead of actually helping. They were my best friends though, and I mean, everything was more fun when they were around. Even if having them around meant that normal things took twice as long to do.
"Dust?"
"Hmm?"
"Have you met any of my brothers yet? Like, really talked to them?"
"Well, not really. I'm not quite as adventurous as Drill is." I tried to joke, to which I got a bit of a smile in response. "I don't want to be a bother anyways, your brothers have better things to be doing than getting to know us."
"Mmmm, not really. We don't do much to be honest. And whether it actually gets done or not doesn't really matter either." He shrugged as he leaned around me to put something away. "Would you...do you want to come and meet my line brothers? We're all kind of just chilling for the night, and Drill was still with them last time I checked."
"I...I mean..." fuck! "Yeah, I'd love too."
Well, that made Needle light up like a christmas tree! But I didn't want to go meet his brothers, I just wanted to clean and go to bed! Ahh. Okay, no. Maybe it won't be all that bad?
"I promise they're all good bots. They can be pretty skittish at first, but once you get to know them...Well, they're still quick to run, but Hard is nice to talk to at least." Needle shrugged, trying to defend his family.
"I don't want to interupt if you guys are having some quality time together. I'm sure you'd rather spend time with them than me." I crafted, trying to excuse myself from the experience.
"No! It's fine! I like...I like spending time with you. You're different, and more exciting...I'm sure my brother would love to meet you too." He stumbled over a couple of thoughts through that delivery.
"Me? Exciting? I think you're thinking of the wrong bot." I scoffed as I folded the dish towel and hung it over the stove handle. "Nothing about my existence is exciting."
"What! Of course it is! You just told me last night all the cool things you and your brothers do together!"
"Yeah, but Drill could've also told you the same stories. He probably would've told them better too."
"Maybe so, that doesn't change the fact that you've gone out and done stuff though!"
"Is it really that exciting to you? All that dumb family stuff?"
"Family stuff isn't dumb! I wish I could do the same with-..." he stopped and sighed. I think I hit a nerve. "Wily was never that close with us. I wish we all got to do something together. I wish he, cared enough about us to spend time with us like he does the others..."
"Needle...He does really care about you guys, you know that, right?"
"I know, and we know he just doen't express it well. I just wish we could do something normal for once like you guys do. So we wouldn't just be a maker and his machines..." he paused and leaned back against the counter. "You don't know how lucky you really are, to have a family like you have...I couldn't even begin to imagine myself in your place."
"Like how?"
"Here! In this hell hole! With your father who cares so much he's willing to risk his reputation, and you all who are willing to go through, this, for your sister! Wily doesn't care THAT much! He cares a lot, yeah, but he wouldn't go to this extent for our sake! He would've taken her home and left our sorry asses to figure it out ourselves."
The topic had gotten heavy. How do you comfort a Wily bot like this? Needle looked to be close to tears as he fought to keep his composure. I wasn't really sure I could say anything. I certainly didn't know Wily well enough to say that he wouldn't just abandon them, but lying didn't seem like a valid option either.
The next think I knew my arms were around the Wily bots stomach; grasped behind his lower back with my head gently placed on his chest. His breath hitched as I felt him shake weakly under my touch and he cried. I guess after last night though it was his turn to shed some tears. His hands quickly found there way under the hood of my sweater as he leaned down to meet my hug. He gently rested his chin against the top of my head as I rubbed his back. This was good.
Three days ago, if you asked me if the Wily bots could feel anything other than rage and hate I would've said no; it's the only thing they're programmed to feel. But this, this extension of loneliness and belonging; and familiy and worth...I can't believe Wily would program them like this and then treat them like just weapons a majority of the time. Sure, I assume they had their moments, otherwise they wouldn't all love him as much. But this, this was just a miserable way to live.
"Needle..." I gently whispered as I pulled away, even though he held onto me tightly still needing the support.
I gently put my hands to his face, his eyes now puffy with tears. He had such an innocent face. I wished he hadn't been throught what he had. This bot was life times ahead of me in both capability and experience, and whether he actually realized that was beyond me. But he had so much pain in those innocent eyes. So much fear...
"Do you want to just call it in for the day? I'm still pretty tired from last night." I gently rubbed his cheeks before pushing his ruffly dark blue hair off of his forehead.
He nodded into my hands as I gently hushed him back to a calmer state. He probably wanted to talk to his family about this anyways, he didn't need me around-
"Dust...do you...." he started as he rubbed his eyes and looked away shyly. "Can I spend the night with you...I don't want to be by myself..."
"...yeah, oh course." I encourage him but kicked myself mentally. "Come on, show me you're room and we can get some rest." I gently took his hand and encouraged him down towards the third lines hallway.
He pushed open he door to his room and it was nothing like I was expecting. The rocker spikes that decalled his jacket and boots didn't match the soft white and blue of his room at all. Everything just looked so warm and cozy!
"Don't laugh..."
"What-? Laugh about..." I guess I looked pretty shocked.
"I just like soft stuff. And soft things happen to come in soft colours." He said grumpily, still trying to avoid eye contact.
He flopped out on what I assumed was his main sleeping quarters, but I couldn't actually tell if there was a mattress under all of the pillows and blankets. I happily flopped down beside him as he laughed a bit but he curled in on himself pretty quickly.
"Okay, I like the pillows anyways. Your whole room just looks cozy." I tried to give an encouraging smile. "Why the hard rock look then?"
"What?"
"Your jacket and boots, they can't be comfortable."
"It makes other people uncomfortable. Which means they're already scared of me if something goes wrong and my brothers and I are out. People don't give you a second glance like this."
Hmmm. I guess there was some truth to that. I did get compliments on my album cover sweaters, but some of of the more gruesome artwork turned blind eyes.
"Good night, Dust. Thank you."
"Yeah, night, Needle. Sleep tight."

...

Okay, last room check and then I could get some sleep.
I stretched lazily as one of Snake's search snakes lingered on my shoulder to keep tabs on everything. Snake really liked to have video of everything, so I guess the nightly routine was nice to have documented too. The little guy was magnetized around my collar and shoulder to hold him firmly in place, but the search snakes usually didn't fall off either way. I just liked giving them that extra little security blanket.
I gently turned the doorknob to Needle's room to peak inside. He hadn't been in his room last night when I checked, so I was relieved to see him this morning at team meeting. I guess I didn't expect to see him back in his room tonight, but the guest definitely surprised me.
That was, Dust? Yeah, the one we had seen earlier who was washing the dishes. I started putting two and two together, both of their absences last night probably meant that they were together. But why were they together now? Like, this... Oh maker! No! Nu-uh! My innocent baby brother! No way he was already banging a Cossack bot just for the hell of it!
I quickly closed the door behind me and headed to Snake's room. I knocked quickly before inviting myself in.
"Snake? Can you keep an eye on Dustman please?" I said to my half awake medic. "I'm just worried about him." I covered as the search snake slid off of my shoulder and back down to Snake's desk; crawling its way back into one of the many pockets of Snake's interior.
"Sure thing, boss. I'll check on him in the morning when I go to see Cossack."
"Perfect, thank you. And, if you see him with Needle, can you let me know?"
"Needle? Maggie why would he be with Needle?" Snake asked, not trying to hide the fact that he was rolling his eyes.
"Just, let me know. Got it?"
"Whatever you say. Go and get some sleep now, you've had a long day today."
"Thanks, Snake. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Magnet. See you tomorrow."

Chapter Text

I guess sooner or later a Wily bot was going to show up to start monitoring my progress on the new bots. I'd spent all last week weaponizing my boys, so that was at least out of the way. But now the real task began.
Snake, for the most part, looked less than interested in what Bright and I were doing. He seemed to have brought some work with him to try and get done, but he seemed to be loosing interest in that too. Sooner or later he was going to get curious, and I wasn't quite sure where I stood with Snake. Well, any of the third line really. I hadn't had much time to talk with any of them other than Magnet, but they were quick to run I guess.
Either way, he still didn't look all to invested in whatever task he was doing. He'd probably like learning about this stuff though if Wily was training him to be a medic. This was the fun part anyways; the beginning of creating a new bot was always a special occasion.
Huh...
These would be the first new bots I've made in a long time...
Dive was the last bot I made right before Isabelle passed away. Sure I had lots of potential commissions, but it didn't feel the same. I guess the new sense of urgency was really spurring the design of these two. Honestly, I was already attatched to the two concept bots that begged to be brought to life from the blueprint.
I'd taken Wily's advice with the defence bots, so one of them had a barrier type weapon like Wood did. The other one though...I had a request a while back from the police department for an apprehensive type bot to help officers in the feild. It was going to be hard coding that midset into a bot though if Wily was going to be watching my progress. I guess for now I'd just outfit the weapon and hope to get a somewhat compatible personality in him.
"Which one has the barrier?" I turned around to find Snake had moved closer and was looking at the two sets of blueprints.
"Ah, model A." I nodded, trying to to start anything with the camera bot.
"Not the skeleton one?"
"No, he had an apprehension weapon. Kind of like a restraint weapon."
"You should switch it." Snake said as he slowly pulled himself down off of the computer tower. "He's going to need the defencive boost more."
"Hmm...I guess that does make some sense. I pictured him being a bit more agile though."
"Just because he has a barrier weapon doesn't lower his maneuverability. I guess Wood isn't a great example...I'll be right back." Snake made his exit as Bright pushed a stool up next to me.
"Is he going to be here a lot?" Bright asked as he scribbled a note on the bottom of one of the blueprints.
"I think so. Flash will probably be around a lot too. They're just curious though." I said as I waited for the computer to boot up.
I started up two new files and began typing out some of the basic idea we had for each of the bots.
"We need better names for these two. We can't just call them A and B the whole time. I'm going to get them mixed up." Bright huffed as he tried to pull the pen out from behind my ear.
"Well, we can always put in temporary names. They tend to stick though." I leaned back and swatted him away playfully.
"Can we call B, Skull?"
"Skull?"
"Yeah, it's what I was thinking when I was drawing him."
"Wily's going to be soooooo happy with that. We'll never get him to let us bring him home with us after that." I joked as Bright rolled his eyes.
"Skull doesn't take Wily's bullshit, he just says no and comes home with us. He probably flips Wily off in the process too." Bright giggled as he made up the scenario.
"Does Skull not like it here?"
"Of course not! He wants to be with his family, and he wants Kalinka to be safe and happy. He hates whatever Wily is putting her through right now, and he wants Wily to pay for what he's done to all of us." Bright scoffed.
"Hmm, sound more like what 'you' want to happen to Wily."
"Well, yes...But I'm not allowed to have those thoughts, so don't tell anyone." Bright joked as he put a finger to his lip to hush me.
It was true that Bright actually didn't have the three laws of robotics programmed into him, well not in a literal sense. They were there for legal reasons and for some personal safety reasons for when I first turned him on, but I never really pictured Bright needing them. Even the Wily bots had some semblance of the three laws, but tweeked for Wily's purposes. I guess in that sense I wasn't much better than Wily now was I. Even Pharaoh's laws weren't 100% literal, he might even be able to get away with things that Bright couldn't bring himself to do. It was part of their personalities now though; not that I wanted to change it of course! But I can imagine that it might cause some problems after this whole experience. The laws were just...they took away from the experience of life that I wish all of my boys could truly experience.
Maybe I would get around to tweeking the rest of my boys while I was here, now that I had the opportunity. But with permission, of course. None of the other knew that Bright and Pharaoh were acceptions, but I could imagine that they would all probably enjoy a little more freedom in their coding.
"Cossack, have you met the new bots yet?" Snake asked upon his return, bringing two bots behind him.
"Star!" Bright smiled as the familiar bot quickly came up and gave him a hug.
Wow! What a difference from last week. What an improvement!
"Awww! Bright I haven't seen you in soooooooo long!!" Star dragged out playfully as he picked up Bright in a hug.
"Look at how much better you look already! And you talk more now!!" Bright gushed as he smiled widely in Star's arms.
"And Dr. Cossack! I've missed you both!" He flung himself over to me now for a hug, which I gratefully accepted.
"We missed you too, Star! I'm so glad to see you're doing well!" I smiled as I eyed up the other bot that accompanied Snake now. "And who's this I see?"
"This is my baby brother, Crystal!" Star giddily introduced the bot who clung to Snake's side. "He's just brand new."
"Well, it's very nice to meet you then Crystal. I hope you're adjusting well?"
"Yes, sir." Crystal responded quietly as Star quickly made his way back to his little brothers side to comfort him.
He must be really new if he's still so cautious around everything. At least Star seems to be a good brotherly influence to have. I wanted as he gently squeezed and kissed Crystal to reassure him. I hoped my boys would be this good with their new little brothers, it's been a while since they've had anyone new to look after.
"Star, you should show Cossack how good you're getting with the star crash." Snake encouraged as he gently put his arms around Crystal again to take the responsibility off of Star.
"Oh! Yeah!" Star said as he made a little hop off the ground to float agian.
I watch as he summoned the same star barrier weapons from before and orbitted them around himself quite quickly. It was honestly just a beautiful weapon; Rock was going to be too mesmerized to actually fight him.
"His control is really improving." Snake said as he grabbed a pencil off a nearby table and threw it up.
Star easily commanded on of the barrier pieces towards the pencil and sliced it in half cleanly. Strategically perfect.
"Woah! Star that's sweet!" Bright complimented as Star pulled a mid-flight backflip.
"I'm getting so much better! I could hardly summon the barrier last week!" Star squealed happily. "Crystal is getting better too! You should see his barrier!"
"Oh! You both have barrier weapons?" I guess Wily wasn't lying when he said he missed the defencive bots.
"It's not the same though..." Crystal added, looking at Star.
"It's still really cool though, Cry!" Star said as he carefully floated back to Crystal and took his hands.
"Mmmm..."
I watched as Crystal put a lot of effort into materializing some glistening orbs to orbit himself with. They all sparkles with a beautiful light blue hue. I guess Wily was really going with a flashy sort of line theme. Crystal didn't have a great control over his weapon once it materialized, but he did manage a couple rotations before it dissolved away.
"That's great, Crystal!" Bright encouraged as I clapped along. "It's so pretty!"
"Aww, well...Thank you. I'm still just figuring how it really works." He nodded along as Star pulled him into a hug.
"You'll get it down in no time!" Star encouraged as Snake patted him on the shoulder.
"You guys can go back to your nap now, you both need to sleep anyways." Snake smiled warmly as Star gave him a hug.
"Okay, goodnight Cossack, goodnight Bright." Star smiled as he took Crystal's hand and pretty much dragged him along behind him.
"Sleep tight!" Bright laughed back happily as they disappeared.
"Star is really sweet." Snake smiled as he stood by the door. "Um...I just wanted to make a case. They're both still plenty agile with a barrier weapon."
"Well yes, I see that. I'll definitely give it some thought Snake."
"Ummm..." Snake fidgeted a bit as Bright made himself comfortable again at the lab bench. "Can I look?"
"Of course, Snake!" I scoffed back. "I figured that's what you were here to do anyways, but your more than welcome to come and watch."
"I mean, yessss-" he clapped his hand over his mouth as his tongue escaped, flicking back and forth breifly before darting away again. "I just want to see how you do things." He finished
"Of course." I smiled back as he cautiously made his approach to the lab bench beside Bright. "I remember hearing that Wily was training Flash and yourself how to be medics?"
"Yeah, and he's pretty much finished his lessons for now at least. He wants to start teaching Crystal too since Flash and I have already been such a bit help."
Bright gave Snake a dirty look as he pulled up a stool beside him. Here's a thought...Bright was weaponized now, and Snake would probably at some point do something to upset him. But now, Bright had the ability to actually hurt him, well kinda. We'd just given him a flash stopper like Flash, but I guess he could potentially do some damage with his secondary weapon. None the less, Bright's glare didn't phase Snake as he sat down and leaned over the blueprints.
"Where do you even start? Like, how do these doodles turn into us?" Snake asked as he traced the outline of one of the blueprint bots.
"You just start small and work your way up. I guess you'd most commonly start woth the weapon to make sure it functions, then you build around that." I said as I sat pointed to the drafts on the table. "I guess if we're going to change which weapon each of them guets though we'll have to rework some of our plans." Snake smiled contently, clearly happy that I had actually considered his input.
"Well, I'd love to help. I want to learn how this is done...you know, it seems like its important."
"It's very important! It's preparing the foundation of function and personality! I'm surprised Wily hasn't put more emphasis on the whole planning phase of things."
"He has said some things, but I think he's just more interested in having Flash and I around to do repairs."
"There's no reason you can't learn both. Its equally important to understand all phases of development and upkeep because they all relate to each other in some way. You're probably have to look at blue prints eventually and be able to actually read and use them."
Snake smiled and nodded along with my explanation, obviously glad that I was aking his side on the whole lesson thing. Bright was looking a bit uncomfortable with the Wily bots still, but I guess he'd get used to having him and Flash around soon enough.
"So, will you show me?"
"Of course, Snake. It's what any smart person would do." I got a sneer out of him that time.
"Thanks, Cossack."
"My pleasure, well lets begin."

Chapter Text

I've been walking around this place for a week and I still get lost trying to find everyone's rooms. I guess I'd get used to it eventually, but why couldn't we just meet in the living room like usual?
Magnet said he wanted to talk about something with me, but I guess it has something to do with the new weapon I was sporting. Well, probably more leadership 'lessons' or asking about my second in command again.
I still wasn't sure what I was going to do about my second in command. A lot of my instinct was pointing towards Dust, but I was still worried about putting that responsibilty on him. My lessons hadn't been going great either. I wasn't sure I was cut out to actually give the orders when it came down to it. Or, whether my brothers would actually listen when I started giving actual orders. Sure, they all looked to me for advice, but they didn't depend on me to make the calls like the second and third liners did.
"Pharaoh, hey. Maggie is looking for you." I felt a hand gently slip around my waist as I turned to see who was talking. I hadn't talked to Flash much yet, but Quick and Magnet rarely talked about him in a good sense.
"Yes, I was just on my way." I said, turning away from the advance to get his hand off my hip.
"Hey hey, sorry! If you don't like being handsy you just have to say so." He put his hands up defencively before putting them back in his lab coat pocket...
Why the hell was Flash wearing a legitimate lab coat? Was he working on something with Wily? Or by himself? Was someone hurt and he was repairing them? Or was he just wearing it for shits and giggles?
"You have questions, I can tell." Flash sneered as he leaned against the wall beside me.
"What's with the lab coat? You working on something special?" I crossed my arms in a bit of a huff.
"I was just helping Wily in the lab. There might be some selective areas of augmented gravity while he's testing things. But I think we've worked out most of the problems."
"...gravity? Like..." I looked down at my feet.
"Other way, but yes. Gravity. The force currently keeping you on the ground."
"How?"
"You know, I found it's usually better not to ask about those things. Wily is a genius if nothing else."
"Yeah...okay, whatever. I'm going to talk with Magnet."
"Tell him I said hi. I was looking for Snake, but apparently he's been with your Dad all morning."
"Why?"
"Just observational purposes. He started building your new brothers today."
"Ha...yeah, well hopefully they turn out okay." I turned and left Flash standing in the hall on that sour note.
I mean, I was thrilled to have new baby brothers on the way, but the circumstances could have definitely been better for them. I couldn't even begin to imagine how they'd turn out going through all of this right off the bat. Sure, the Wily bots were fine and all but they were just, different. They were made for this kind of life! My new little brothers were going to have to figure out how to live after all of this. They sure as hell weren't going to want jobs, and the government wouldn't just let them do whatever they want. Hopefully they'd both turn out okay, but looking at the blueprints I was already worried. Appearence is everything.
I knocked on a door that looked familiar. This was either a closet or Magnet's room, and knocking on one would be significantly more embarrassing than the other.
I did hear some scrambling though, and some soft curses as someone hurried to the door. Sure enough, a very blushy Magnet cracked the door open with his hair all in a mess and his shirt off.
"Oh shit, Pharaoh! Sorry, I completely forgot!" He blushed as he quickly closed the door behind him as we stood out in the hall.
"It's fine...I know you're, busy," I tried to dance around the topic. "Do you need a minute? Or...?"
"Um, yeah, actually. Give me a second to change and I'll be right back with you."
He quickly disappeared back into his room and closed the door behind him. I leaned against the wall to wait for him, but not before I heard a lot more cursing coming from Magnet. Well, and who I assumed was Top probably who was on the opposite side of that conversation. Those two were pretty much inseparable but that was because they were an item now. I'd already listened to that whole rant from Quick and then had to listen to Magnet gush about how perfect Top was. I guess that's probably why Magnet was so blushy whenever Quick teased me about being single.
Well, Top was a lucky bot.
"Okay, I'm good!" Magnet said as he struggled into a hoody already in a half sprint down the hall. "Come on, there's something I wanted to show you!"
"Hey! Wait up!" I laughed as I ran behind him back towards the living room. "Where are we going?"
I thought I heard someone huff at me from behind, but when I looked back I didn't see anyone in the third lines hall. Must be hearing things, this place creaks something horrible in the wind anyways.
"Dad's lab, I want you to meet someone!"
Oh...his Dad's lab. I hadn't been there yet. I guess I was going to end up there one way or another. At least Magnet was going to be there to supervise.
I followed him through the big double doors into a lab that was at LEAST five times as big as the one Dad was in now. I'd never seen so many...things, in my life! Everywhere I looked there were blueprints and schematics and prototypes and screens and lights! Oh, the lights...they've been getting harder to look at recently. Dad thinks something might be wrong with my optics system; but it's highly likely that the new weapon upgrades had done the damage integrating into my systems.
"Hi, Dad!" Magnet gently patted Wily on the shoulder as he turned back to greet us.
"Ah, hello Magnet! And Pharaoh! It's nice seeing you boys out and about. What's on the agenda for today?" Wily asked as he sat back in his chair with some components on his lap that he was trying to fit together.
"Nothing too intense. We're going to do some more training in the evening."
"Combat, or theory?" Wily asked, intriguing a little bit.
"Combat. But they're all still only getting used to their weapons."
"Bah! I'd have them all out there already practicing!"
"I know you would." Magnet rolled his eyes, which luckily got a laugh out of Wily.
"So, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
"I wanted to introduce Pharaoh to Gyro, since we were talking about maybe having him tag along for some theory lessons."
"Of course! He's...uh. Well, he's certainly in here somewhere." Wily said as he turned back to the computer he was sat at. "This says he's hooked up charging in here, so he might be asleep. Just be gently, okay? He's still really sore."
"I know, I will be. Come on Pharaoh." Magnet waved me along as we headed to a semi-seperate section of the lab.
"So who's this Gyro, and why are you trying to set me up with him." I egged as I elbowed Magnet in the side.
"Ow! He's the next line's leader, or at least, that's the plan. Dad wanted to start him off early, but he's had a lot of hiccups along the way. He just got him back online for the first time in a while. He had a bit of a fight with one of his line brothers and ended up on the losing end of things." He explained as he started peaking in some of the recharge pods that were used for new bots.
"...and, the other bot?"
"Dad ended up destroying his I.C. framework and starting again. Same body, different person."
"And how do you think Gryo's going to get along with him now?"
"That's the thing, we don't know. Gyro's still scared to even go near him. And he's a flier, so when he gets scared he takes off. Actually, a lot of this line are fliers, and they take off when you so much as sneeze around them."
"Great, so we're sneaking up on Gyro while he's asleep hoping he doesn't just trash the place and leave." I said as Magnet pushed aside some curtains and put a finger to his lips.
"He's not as good of a flier as he used to be. His whole propulsion system was damaged, so Dad had to replace everything. That's why he's a little sore, and probably pretty grumpy." Magnet whispered as we came to a room that had the lights dimmed and was lined with bed-rechange stations.
"Geez, well I can't blame him then." I huffed as I looked around.
There were three bots in here; two that were cuddled up together sharing the same bed, and one with a huge propeller on his back.
I watched Magnet sit down on the floor beside the bot with the propeller and I quicly followed suit. He carefully played with the input screen on the recharge station beside the bed to tease the bot awake slowly. From the readings on the recharger though it didn't look like he was having a very pleasent time rechanging.
"His readings are all over the place." I whispered as Magnet nodded.
"He's been in a lot of pain. We had him drugged up all day yesterday just to try and talk with him...which didn't go great. He just needs some friends."
I watched as two beautiful blue optics peaked open at us from the bed. Gyro eventually shifted a bit to rub his eyes as Magnet gently scooted closer to touch his arm.
"How are you feeling?" Was the first thing out of his mouth.
"Mmm...worse..."
"Okay, but you said that yesterday."
"Worse...than yesterday."
"Okay. I'll go and grab something real quick. I brought a new friend to introduce to you too." Magnet said, turning back to me now. "Gyro, this is Pharaoh. Do you remember talking about him yesterday?"
"He's the other line leader, right? You wanted me to meet him."
"That's right! I'm glad you remember." Magnet encouraged, gently putting a kiss on the back of Gyro's hand. "Can you talk to him for a bit while I get your meds?"
"Yeah..."
"Okay love, I'll be right back." Magnet tapped my legs as I took his spot right beside Gyro.
"It's nice to meet you, Gyro."
"It's nice to meet you too. Magnet and Quick were talking a lot about you yesterday."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah, they think you're amazing."
"Wh-"
Well, that was good to hear at least.
"Well, I'd hardly say amazing. But I'm glad my reputation proceeds me."
"They also called you a diva,"
"A what!" I slapped my hand over my mouth, remembering the other two bots were asleep over there.
At least I got a smile out of Gyro. I imagine he needed one after everything.
"Why are you guys sat on the floor?"
"Ha, well. I was hoping you'd know. I was just following Magnet's lead." I chuckled a bit as he sat up on his arms.
"Oh, wait. Magnet's still scared of these things I guess." He sighed, trying to look back at his prop. "I haven't quite gotten the hang of them yet."
"So they're different, from before." Stop, no, delicate subject!
"Hm, yeah. A lot of things are different..." he sighed. "Everyone says I'll get used to it though."
"I'm sure you will. You can't let something like this stop you." I encouraged, but he didn't seem to interested in my flattery. "I think you look better like this anyways." I lied.
"Really?"
"Of course! You look amazing!" I complimented blindly as he smiled again.
"Aww, well...thank you."
"Okay, did you two play nice while I was gone?" Magnet asked as he came back with a bottle of liquid.
"Yeah, nothing to worry about." I smiled as Gyro gently touched my shoulder.
He gently pushed himself up onto his elbows as Magnet handed him the bottle, which he swigged down.
"Hey hey! Sips!" Magnet scolded but it was already gone. "Boy, you're going to pass out chugging it like that!"
"That's the plan,"
"Quit being so dramatic and get up. I want to get you outside for some fresh air."
"Ha! Pfft. Yeah right. Good luck getting me past Dr. Wily."
"Nah, we're fine. Don't worry." Magnet said as he carefully helped Gyro out of bed; keeping a good distance from the prop the whole time.
"Yep, up and at 'em!" I stood up and helped, gently putting my arm around Gyro's midsection to help him up.
"Slow! Slow down!" Gyro winced as he pulled him to his feet. Rudders. Good lord what was Wily thinking.
"Deep breaths okay? That's why I said to take sips." Magnet rolled his eyes as he practically pushed Gyro up onto my back. "Here, carry him."
"Pardon? Why me?"
"Because, you're bigger than me! And I don't want to."
Gyro lazily clung to my shoulders as I tried to gently boost him up with my arms around his legs. He did seem to be having fun though, but that might just be the painkillers kicking in.
"Onward." Magnet laughed as I carried Gyro back out to the lab doors. "We're taking Gyro out to get some air!"
Magnet smiled as he gave Wily a peck on the cheek "Thanks Dad, we'll bring him back soon."
"Hey! Wai-...Just be careful, okay?"
"We will." Magnet assured as he held the door for me.
I maneuvered Gyro around the doorframe carefully, but before me stood a long empty hallway.
"Run! Run Pharaoh!" Gyro cheered as I bounced him up a bit to readjust.
"I don't think we should be running with you Gyro. Just relaxing."
"Run! Run!"
I took a couple of longer strides, which seemed to satisfy Gyro for now. It wasn't going to be me that was hurting once the pain killers wore off.
"Come on, I wanted to put you in the hottub. I think you'll like the jets, they're really relaxing." Magnet said as he followed behind. "Slow down for a second, I want to fold his prop down."
I slowed to a barely walking pace, but sure enough I heard metal sliding as the propellers arms swung down into line behind us. At least now I only had to worry about bashing them off of the ground and not every single doorway.
"Magnet, I've never been in the water." Gyro said as he leaned his head down against the top of mine lazily.
"I know, but I think you'll like it." Magnet insisted as I plodded along.
"Come on, it's out back this way on the upper desk." Magnet directed as he took the lead. "Look, Gyro! We're in the living room."
"Wow!"
I couldn't tell if that was a drugged 'wow' of a sincere 'wow', but either way Magnet rolled his eyes so I'd assume its the former of the two. This was fun though! I hadn't really gotten to spend time with young bots for a long time. It was nice getting to help out. I guess I'd have two little brothers to take care of pretty soon though. God, that was scary to think about.
I followed Magnet along upstairs to the upper deck where Quick, him and I usually had our afternoon meetings and lessons. It really was beautiful up there though; you could see everything around the island from up there. It was a pain carrying Gyro up all of those steps though.
"Okay, you can walk yourself now." I carefully put Gyro down at the top of the stairs and watched him take a couple of cautious steps by himself before I put my arm around him supportively. I didn't want him falling over and complaining.
"Here, Gyro. This'll make you feel better." Magnet smiled as he pulled the cover off of the tub and tucked it off to the side.
I watched Gyro gingerly test the water with his hand before looking back at Magnet; who was already peeling his shirt off again. I watched as Magnet climbed into the tub first and gently took Gyro's hands.
"It's okay, I'm right here with you." He encouraged as Gyro armoured down as best he could. That part clearly wasn't finished in his design though.
I sat him up on the edge of the tub and carefully swung his legs in. Magnet gently eased him down into the water, but by the look on his face I could already tell he was enjoying it.
"Come in, Pharaoh. It's actually not cold right now." Magnet encouraged me, but I politely declined.
"I'm alright here. Water and I don't have a good history." I said as I pulled up on of the chairs and leaned against the edge of the tub to keep up the conversation.
"So? How does it feel?" Magnet asked as he gently pulled himself up beside Gyro.
Gyro looked absolutely blissful though, which was probably enough of an answer.
I carefully pulled Gyro's helmet off and put it down to the side. He had black hair with green highlights, which was honestly pretty surprising to see on a Wily bot. All of the ones I'd see without their helmets had solid toned hair, even if it wasn't all natural coloured. It was a really nice look on him though!
I gently ran my hand through his hair as he peacefully closed his eyes to relax. Magnet scooted up next to him as well to make sure he didn't accidentally slip under water. Not that it would do much, but being completely underwater was always a weird feeling. At least for me, I didn't really like the family beach trips we used to take. The water always scared me a bit, especially around Kalinka when she was smaller.
"Thanks, Pharaoh." Magnet leaned in closer to me to whisper. "He really needs some more friends."
That caught me a bit of guard.
"I'm happy you invited me along." I smiled back as I leaned down between the two, still carefully massaging Gyro's scalp with one hand.
"Would you be okay if he tagged along for some of your lessons?"
"I don't have a problem with it." I twirled Gyro's hair. "He seems like a good kid. I wouldn't mind him tagging along."
"Great. Once he's feeling a bit better then maybe he can start coming to lessons with us."
"Did he fall asleep?" I laughed as I leaned forward a bit to look.
"Yeah, but it's fine." Magnet chuckled. "I'm just glad to see him out of the lab for once." Magnet said as he carefully reclined himself. "Are you sure you don't want to come in?"
"I'm good, I swear." I smiled as he flicked some water back at me. "Not fair!"
I splashed him back playfully before he got up in an attempt to pull me in. I wrestled him back, fighting out of his playful grip as he flopped back down. We both quickly made sure we hadn't disturbed Gyro, but Magnet immediately went back to splashing at me.
When was the last time I laughed like this? Never with someone who wasn't my family. I guess I could call Magnet a friend at this point. He was supposed to be my mentor, but I guess he could still be my friend too.
He finally calmed back down with a huge smiled plastered on his face as I leaned back down on the edge of the tub. He gently leaned in, pressing his forehead to mine as he chuckled, gasping a bit for breath after the bout. I pressed back lightly as he shifted himself around to face me.
This was nice.

Chapter Text

Something happened last night between the third line, and from the hostile glares that were being cast across the room at breakfast, it wasn't good. I thought I heard them yelling last night, but there was always yelling of some sort. I guess it had just escalated last night to something more than just the regular arguements. We were all eating breakfast together now anyways, so we were bound to find out just exactly what the yelling had been about.
I was sat between Crash and Spark in a bit of a spooning position as I helped Crash with his breakfast. Spark of course wasn't hungry, but it wasn't like he'd take any food from me anyways. It was pretty clear that he only mooched off of his line brothers for food. He didn't want that kind of attention from anyone else.
He told me earlier that Top and Magnet had a fight last night, and that was usually enough to divide the whole group. I mean, it was pretty clear that Top was upset, but Spark didn't know what exactly they were fighting over. Just that there'd been a fight. He didn't seem to keen on investigating either.
Breakfast was just, eerily quite without the usually banter though. The second line could tell that something wasn't right, so none of them wanted to touch any rough topics. I guess we didn't really want to start anything either, so keeping our mouths shut was the best option all around.
"Drill?"
I turned around to find Bright gently pulling at my sleeve. I carefully picked him up and put him on my lap between Crash and myself.
"Dad wanted opinions on the new bots, he wanted you and Dust and Toad to go and see him to discuss some things." Bright said as Crash watched me curiously.
"Oh yeah, of course. I can get the guys together and go have a peek. Have you already gotten Dive to go see?"
"No, catching him out of the water has been tricky. He spends a lot of time with Bubble out in the ocean."
"I'll get him later too, don't worry." I said as I scooped another spoonful for Crash and fed him.
"Bubble said he likes hanging out with Dive. He's usually so lonely." Crash said as he messily tried to wipe his face.
"I'm sure Dive feels the same way. Toad swims with him a bit sometimes, but he really isn't cut out for diving like he is."
All of the hushed whispers around the room cut out as Top made and ugly whining sound. Magnet didn't even hesitate to be by his side, quickly wrapping him in a supportive hug.
"No! Get off of me!" Top screamed back, practically bawling at this point.
"I'm so sorry. I don't deserve you. I love you so much!" Magnet panicked as Top tried to fight away from him.
"Uh-oh..." Spark whispered to us as he grabbed for the counter uselessly. "Drill! Grab the-"
But before I could finish we were all pushed away violently by the magnetic feild Magnet was giving off.
"Grab! Grab it! Please!"
I grabbed the edge of the counter as Needle was thrown up beside us as well. He quickly grabbed Spark from me and held onto him with one hand. Bright had himself clung to my shirt while I held onto Crash's arm tightly with one hand.
"He's going to pull now!"
And sure enough I found myself sucked back towards Magnet as he started crying still clinging to Top. I scrambled to fix my grip on the counter and Crash as we all readjusted. I cast a glance over at Needle and Spark, but neither of them looked too perplexed by the situation. This probably wasn't 'typical' but they must have at least dealt with this before. They both did look kinda worried.
Magnet and Top were both just sobbing messes though. They were frantically trying to console the other but they didn't seem to be making any progress. At least they still cared about each other enough to be this worried over the others crying. Hopefully their arguement wouldn't last long if it meant more magnitizing too. But as of right now they weren't really resolving anything.
I mean, I guess I know why the Wily bots were so picky about leaving pots and pans and forks and stuff just lying around. I could see now how those thinks could easily become projectiles. Luckily Dad and Wily weren't here to get hurt either.
"Come on guys! It's okay! You can work this out." Metal encouraged as he held onto the couch, which was surprisingly heavy enough to hold him in place.
"Yeah! What's the problem? Talk it out, okay?"
"You're cheating on me!!" Top screamed at Magnet as he struggled to push himself away from Magnet who was bawling.
"No I'm not, Toppy! Why don't you believe me!?"
"Because Bubble said he saw you two kissing yesterday!"
"What?! We didn't!! Top, I swear, I never!"
"Yeah! I never kissed him! We were just talking!" Pharaoh blurted from his position holding onto the fireplace mantle beside Quick.
"Wait! You!?" I squeeled over at Pharoah, but he tried to stare me into shutting up.
"We didn't though!!" Pharaoh punctuated, with emphasis.
"Yeah, we were just whispering, so we were really close together! Cause Gyro was asleep and we didn't want to wake him up!" Magnet instisted as he began to regain himself and I could feel the magnetic pull weakening. "Top, you know I would never. I love you, so much. We're just friends. And we never did anything. I promise."
"Mmmmm."
Top was still clearly aggitated, but he squeezed Magnet back, I flopped down on the counter hard as the magentic pull dropped completely and Crash's weight ended up pulling me off the counter. I rubbed my forehead, looking around to survey the damage. Nothing looked broken though, everyone looked a bit stunned but nothing serious.
"Are we calm now? Are we good?" Quick asked as he brushed himself off.
"Maybe we should all take the day off, just, unwind. Things have been stressful." Metal added as he stretched and patted Quick's shoulder.
"Not a bad idea. We'll pick up training again tomorrow, so enjoy the day off." Quick decided before leaving with Pharaoh and Metal in tow.
"Well..." Crash stood himself up carefully as I quickly made to help him. "I'm going to check on Metal."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'll be back later though!" Crash smiled as he waved his arms.
Crash made his exit as I went to find Toad and Dust. They were both making their way back towards our rooms as I caught up to them.
"Hey! Dad wants to see us in the lab." I said as I boosted Bright up on my hip.
"Oh! Yeah, come on then."

Chapter Text

13

"You didn't kiss him? Did you"
"No! I swear I didn't!"
"I believe you! Don't worry."
I ran up behind Metal, but he turned around before I could get to him. He put his arms out and caught me as I tried to tackle him.
"And where do you think you're going?!" Metal joked as he picked me up and I flung my arms over his shoulders.
"To you!" I laughed as he put me down.
He looked back for Pharaoh and Quick, but they had already carried on. I snuck a kiss in on him cheekily as his hands rested on my hips for a moment.
"Mmm, well come 're then."
Metal quickly took my arm and pulled me back towards my room. I skipped along behind him, giddy with anticipation. I knew fully well what he had in mind. And I mean, that's probably what Top and Magnet were going to do for the rest of the day. Seems like a good plan.
He pulled me in close and pressed his lips to mine sloppily; grasping at my back clumsily as he pushed the door open behind us. The door was quickly locked again as his hands migrated to the back of my head pulling me in closer.
Had it really been that long since we'd had some proper time off to do this? I mean, usually we just snuck off and had some serious cuddle sessions, but nothing beat hitting all the bases. I just wished I could do a little more for him. He always treated my like a god in bed, and I could hardly give him anything back.
"Are you good? Do you want to do this?" Metal asked, already stripping out of his casual clothes and preparing to help me out of mine."
"Yes! Oh please!"
Metal had my sweater off in one flawless move, and he quickly slid me out of my pants and pulled me over to my bed. He made short work of tossing the rest of our clothes to the side as he eagerly nipped along my neck and collar.
"You are the biggest tease." I laughed as I gently put my arm nubs to his face.
He gently took and kissed them before continuing down my stomach.
"I know, but I only do it because I know you love it."
He spread my legs wide, putting his face down between my thighs with a devoius looking grin. I quickly put my arm to my mouth to keep from squealing with pleasure. Knowing our luck we'd get interupted again by someone. His tongue danced around my shaft before migrating lower to my entrance. I guess one good thing about being a robot is you get both parts.
"Are you really that eager?" Metal teased as he squeezed my thighs, making sure my legs stayed apart as I squirmed with pleasure.
"Not funny." I managed to huff.
God! I just wanted to run my hands through his hair! And touch his face! And be able to give him this attention back.
Hmph, Metal didn't like being the bottom though. He's too uptight to give up the leadership, even in bed.
He came back to my face now, letting our chest touch as he lied ontop of me. He gave me a few quick kisses as I felt him push against my entrance. I swear, everytime got better. He must be practicing without me. Ha!
He nipped at my neck as he fell into a rhythm; gently grinding his hips against mine as he worked himself inside. He let out a couple of gasps, but I could tell he was trying to stay quiet. I put my arms back above my head as his hands navigated down to my hips again, giving some support to his thrusts.
One day I'd get him flipped over, and I'd be the one treating him. He deserves so much, so much more than I could manage. But he still loved me, and I loved him back with every part of my being. Just once though, I'd like for him to take a back seat and just enjoy the ride. One day I'd do, something.
"Crash, you look so hot today."
"W-Are you trying to sexy talk me." I laughed as he stopped to re arrange himself.
"I mean, it's called a compliment." He smirked. "But if it gets you any hornier then sure."
"You're the worst!"
His laugh this time was muffled back against my chest as he leaned in. His hands worked there way under my legs to pull them up, and I gasped as he pushed them up over his shoulders. I re adjusted a bit, but Metal was already back into the same familiar rhythm.
"Mmmmmm, Metal! That's!" I tried to form a sentance, but my processor was quickly overrun with pleasure.
"I love it when you yell my name in bed." Metal kissed affectionately at my shoulders.
"You, kinky, fucker." I panted back, regaining myself after my moment of euphoria.
We both froze as someone knocked at the door. Fuck! Of course!
"Yes?" I yelled back as Metal quickly got off of me and got dressed. I don't think I'd ever seen Metal move so fast in my whole life.
"Crash? Do you want to come to the city with us to get supplies?" Spark asked from the other side.
"Right now?" I whined a bit as Metal helped me pull my pants back on.
"Well, Air said soon?"
"Okay, can Metal come too?" I asked as Metal frantically shook his head no. If I was getting dragged along for shopping he was coming too.
"I mean, I can go ask him?"
"I'll go! Okay, can I meet you back in the living room?"
"Meet us in the hanger! And hurry so Air doesn't get all moody."
"Okay! I'll be right there!"
We listened as Spark happily skipped back down the hall.
"I don't want to go and run errands!" Metal whinned as he smooched my cheek quickly.
"Nope, too bad!! If I gotta do it then you have to come with me."
"Fine... But we'll continue this, later."

...............

"So, where were you last night?"
Snake asked as we lied on one of the mattresses in the living room together. We had just been silently reviewing notes and enjoying each others company while the majority had taken the day off to go gather supplies.
"What? What do you mean."
"Well, I couldn't find you last night. So you weren't here." Snake said as he sat up and crossed his legs.
"Geez, stalker much." I joked, but I could tell Snake was a bit disappointed. "What? I just went out for a bit! Nothing to worry about."
"Mmmm..."
"Is this because of Top and Magnet? Because you know that we aren't a thing, right."
"I know..."
It was hard sometimes, reading how Snake really felt about what we had going. It worked well for us, but I think we both knew that the other wanted something more. Snake doesn't like all of the actual romantic stuff though, just the sex. And I mean, it's great, but I needed someone to show off.
I was out with a, well, I wouldn't exactly call him a friend yet. More like an acquaintance. I had gotten to know him a bit better though, and I think he could be a lot of fun.
"I went out to see a friend, nothing more. Don't worry about it, okay?" I said as I rubbed his back. "Do you want to do something special tonight?"
"Like what?"
"I don't know, just, finish up this paperwork and then go and do something fun! We never get to go out anymore."
"That could be nice, I guess. Okay, no more gosssssssssiping." Snake stopped the blush and cover his mouth.
"You got it." I chuckled back as he smiled.

.........................

"So? What do you guys think?" I asked as my body all looked at each other wearily.
"You....you don't think they look a bit..." Toad started, but looked back at Dust for help.
"Like what?"
"Like, Wilybots?" Dust finished the thought as Toad and Drill nodded along.
"That's kind of the point guys. So Rock doesn't think that they're just new."
"I think he'd know reguardless..."
They didn't like them. I'd never really taken that little aspect into consideration. If my boys didn't like their new little brothers how were they going to be able to fight together?
"I think they'll grow on you guys. They might look a bit more like Wily bots, but they're going to be family."
I got some weary looks from around the room, but they all seemed to nod along at least.
"So, if this one's now is Skull then what's the other one's name?" Toad asked as he looked back at the blueprints.
"We haven't gotten than far yet. We were thinking Cuff because he has the apprehensive weapon now, and we want to design him for police work after."
"That might be too obvious. What is Wily find out and changes him?"
"Hmm."
"You shouldn't design him to look like one of the police bots. He needs to look like one of the Wily bots."
"That's a really good point. We'll see what we can do for him then." I nodded as the others all looked a bit more attentive.
"They need to be shorter too. Pharaoh doesn't like having to look up to others." Drill added as he tapped the height chart on the side of the page. "Well, at least only make one shorter, then make the other one more depedant on the other so they don't ignore Pharaoh."
"They won't ignore Pharaoh. They'll trust him."
"Have you met Pharaoh?" Toad laughed a bit. "Pharaoh is a bit of a...well, he doesn't like giving out attention as much as he likes receiving it."
"We at least got to know him when we were new. He's going to be too busy to try and help with these two, we all are."
"No, you guys need to work it in that you spend a lot of time with these two. At least for their first week. Then they'll mesh in with you guys easier than just forcing them in."
"I mean...we can work it in. But, what if Wily's not happy with it?" Dust asked.
"I haven't seen Wily since like, the first day. If he doesn't like it then tough luck. I'm calling the shots on this, and I'm not going to let these two get messed up just because they're activated like this." I insisted.
"Okay, Dad. We can be around. I'm sure the Wily bots can convince Wily anyways." Dust assured as Toad and Drill nodded along.
"As long as Wily doesn't get to them I think they'll grow up fine." Bright said as he was already scribbling away at new blueprints. "We can keep them away from the Wily bots if we really want to, but I think they'll be fine around them. Snake is really good with the two he brought to visit."
"Well, they have a lot of practice." Toad joked, which at least got a laugh.
"I think they'll be fine around them. They'll probably know more about the early weapon training too." I said as I sat back down at my workbench and picked up the joints I was working on. "Either way, that's all I wanted to ask you boys. You probably need to get back to practice."
"Well...We actually have the day off."
"Oh? Any special reason?"
"Magnet and Top had a pretty big arguement over breakfast. Everyone just needed some time to cool down." Drill informed as he sat up on the bench beside me.
"Yeah...So! Did you need any help with anything here?"
"Oh, thats too bad. I hope it wasn't anything really important."
"Well-"
"No! It was no big deal! They sorted it out!" Dust said, casting a bit of a look at the others.
Well, that just told me it was a bigger deal than they were letting on! Great.
"Okay, well. There's a couple of joints and such just to work on. It you want to put together some knees and ankles I wouldn't be opposed to a little help."
"Sure thing, Dad." Toad smiled as he pulled himself up on the bench beside Drill.
"I have to run and meet up with Needle real quick. But I'll be back." Dust said as he gave my shoulder a squeeze before heading for the door.
"Okay, no rush."
Drill made awkward eye contact with Toad for a momen, and he looked like he was about to say something. He waited until Dust was gone though.
"Dust has been spending a lot of time with the third lines." Drill said as he picked up a leg part and held it for me to screw together.
"Really?...Anyone in particular?"
"Needle...I'm, curious. I want to know what they do together when they go out."
"They go out?"
"Yeah? They've gone to the city together a couple of times. 'Errands'" Toad emphasized with air quotes.
"Hmmmm...I'll check in with him again later and ask. I don't want to confront him infront of everyone else though." I took a breath and looked up at my boys on the table. "You two do know about...you know...the birds and the bees?"
"What? Like, sex?" Toad asked as Drill turned bright red. "Of course!"
"Oh! Well, good then! I don't have to have to talk then." I laughed it off for now. "Now I just have to give it to Dive."
"YOU HAVEN'T-!" Drill looked at my with wide eyes.
"LISTEN!" I blushed back, but smiled when they laughed. "It wasn't important at the time! But, I mean, now it might be a bit more relevant."
"DAD!"
"What!
They just laughed now. I was glad to see them smiling after such a tough week. At least they were all back to their old selves; more or less. At least I get to spend time with them again. I'd be happier if they were all here. But half wasn't a bad place to start.

Chapter Text

"Took you long enough." I said, spotting Dust walking into the kitchen.
"Sorry, I had to go and talk to Dad." He said as he gently hooked his arm around mine. "The clean up is looking good." He complimented.
"Yeah, except that." I pointed up to the food stains on the ceiling.
"Holy shit!" He laughed as he grabbed the dishcloth from my shoulder. "Aw, does that mean- Oh it's all over the walls too!" He sighed playfully as I looked down at him.
God, he was so cute.
"I figured I'd collect all the projectiles first before I started cleaning everything else. You should see the fork marks in the drywall." I handed him a plate to dry as he started putting the rest of the drying dishes away.
"I guess it could've been worse." He shrugged as he bent over to the bottom cupboards. "At least no one got hit."
"Wrong, I had to put a patch on Air in the leg." Flash said from over the counter where him and Snake were sat in the living room.
"Oh Maker! You gave me a processor attack." Dust said, now making eye contact with the other two bots in the room.
The two simply waved now as they got back to work. They were crunching numbers for something, but I mean, they were always doing something. I caught one of the search snakes though sneakin its way over to the sink to say hello. I picked up the little guy and slid him on Dust's shoulder.
"Oh! Ew! What's that?!" He froze stiff as he tried to look over at the little intruder.
"It's okay! It's just a little search snake." I reassured as I let the camera bot climb back on my arm and up to my shoulder. "They just hang around wherever Snake is napping usually."
"I'm not napping! I'm working!" Snake yelled back at me as the search snake snapped at my fingers before curling up in my hoody.
I laughed as Dust reached around me to grab more dishes off the counter to put away.
This was something I never thought I'd enjoy doing. Air and I would usually do the dishes after a big meal because they needed to be done, simple as that. Now though, I actually wanted to clean up because I knew Dust would always be around to help. I just, liked being with Dust now. I think the others were starting to notice too, and I'm not sure if they're as pleased as I was.
"Do you want to lift me up so I can clean the ceiling?" Dust asked as he flung the dish cloth back over my shoulder.
"Oh! Umm, I was going to get a ladder..."
"Nah! We can reach it, just let me sit on your shoulders!"
Oh! Well then.
"Uh...okay. Just let me run and grab the mop so you can scrub it out." I tried not to blush too much as I headed for the closet.
He wanted to sit on my shoudlers? I mean, I guess we'd already spent a night together, but we weren't THAT close! Physical contact was like, a big deal! At least to me...Maybe it wasn't a huge thing, but like...he was going to be, like, right there! Stop blushing, stop blushing! We're good, this is normal! I mean, Heat sits on everyone's shoulders all the time! It's nothing! It's fine!
I handed over the mop to Dust as I filled the pail up in the sink. I mean, on the bright side this was just fruit juice, so it shouldn't take too long to get cleaned up. But, that's kind of also the downside too? Eww gross, stop, now I sounded like Maggie and Snake.
"Bend down, I can't jump that high you goon!" Dust laughed as he pulled at my belt loops.
I obediently squatted down so Dust could climb his way up. His legs flung over my shoulder as I stood back up. Oh God! I don't know if I could do this.
"Come on, I'm not that heavy." Dust patted the top of my head, probably noticing how rigid I'd gone.
"No! No you aren't, I mean!" Get it together. "Sorry, I'm not usually the one giving piggy back rides." I tried to joke, which at least got a laugh out of Dust.
"Aw, it's okay. You're a natural. I mean, you aren't as good as Dive. But still!" He joked back as he pressed the mop against the ceiling. "Okay, forward."
He squeezed me a bit with his legs as I slowly moved forward. He shifted back and forth as he scrubbed at the ceiling, which again, gave me some thought.
I hated this tingly feeling! Why did I feel like this?
'Are you doing okay, big guy?' Snake sent over our private com-link as I made awkward eye contact.
I mean, I clearly didn't look okay is Snake was even asking about it. I watched Snake pat Flash's shoulder quickly before taking off towards Dad's lab. Great, looked like my salvation wasn't coming anytime soon.
"Okay, can you wet the mop for me again?" Dust asked as he passed down the mop to be rinsed.
I quickly dunked the mop and squeezed it out before passing it back up to him.
"Thank you! Can you move forward a bit again?" He asked sweetly as he looked down at me smiling.
Oh Maker! I was blushing! I was looking right at him and blushing! I looked down quickly and put my hands back on his legs as he dropped the mop and tried to jump off.
"Hey, let me down. Okay?" He asked, sounding a bit more like a consolation.
He gently reached down, looping his fingers through mine as he swung a leg free. He quickly hopped down but he kept a tight grip on my hands.
"I'm sorry! I didn't know you were so uncomfotable." Dust said in a bit of a fluster.
"No! It's fine! I'm sorry, I-"
"Hey! I want to intoduce you two to someone!" Snake pretty much ran back in with an unfamiliar bot in tow.
Thank Maker!
Snake gently encouraged the pale ginger haired bot to join us in the kitchen, but he was rooted to the doorframe. I wasn't even wearing my rocker spikes; I hope I didn't scare him too much.
"Oh honey, it's okay." Snake soothed as he gently rubbed the bots back. "This is Needle and Dust, do you want to introduce yourself?" The bot quickly shook his head no, and he looked like he was about to make a run for it.
"Hey, it's okay. Despite what Wily's told you we don't bite." I tried to encourage the bot, which at least got a smile out of him.
"Yeah, we're really friendly. I promise!" Dust smiled as he tried to look a bit more friendly.
"My name's Gravity." The bot said as Snake gently encouraged him to let go of the door frame.
"That's a nice name, Gravity!" Dust smiled as he waited for the two to make their approach. "I'm Dust, and this is Needle."
"It's really nice to meet you Gravity; I've been hearing about you for a while now." I said as I heard Flash get up.
"Hey bud. It's good to see you out of the lab." Flash said as he gently put a hand around Gravity's hip. "You're going to have fun with this I think. But let me get my stuff cleaned up, okay." Flash teased a bit as he gave Gravity a smooch on the forehead quickly.
Gravity smiled though, which was absolutely adorable! Oh I loved new bots! This was so cool having little brothers now!
"I thought you two might want a hand with the ceiling." Snake said as Flash quickly went back to gather up their things.
"...Are you sure, Snake?" Gravity asked meekly as he looked around.
"I trust you, but we can probably put some stuff away in the cabinets." Snake reassured as Gravity nodded. "Come on you two, help me put stuff away."
Putting everything away was no big deal, the four of us made quick work of it. Gravity looked like he was calming down a bit too. But Dust was still casting some glances my way looking apologetic. I tried to give him a confident look, but he looked away quickly.
"Okay, nice and slow okay? You can do it." Snake encouraged as Flash came back to join us.
Oh shit!
Next thing I knew I was face down on the floor...the ceiling....
The ceiling?
Oh shit! The ceiling! Whoa!
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I-I'm not very good with-with-!" Gravity panicked as he helped me up (down?)
"Ha! It's okay Gravity! It's okay!" I watched Snake help himself up.
"Whoa...Whoa!" Dust looked down at the floor. "Okay, this is pretty cool."
Gravity looked so happy now! But damn, Dad had really outdone himself. I mean, I though Gemini was cool, but holy shit! We were standing on THE CEILING!!
I guess seeing us smiling put him in a better mood though. Gravity seemed to loosen up a ton once we were on the ceiling.
"It's a bit confusing for a while, but you get used to it pretty quick." Snake said as he brushed himself off. "I landed right in that...oh! Gross!"
"At least it'll go quicker with all of us now." Flash said as he walk toward the doorway before dropping from the ceiling. I guess it was an area of affect thing. "I'm going to grab some more mops"
"At least the water stayed in the bucket...somehow." Dust said as he dunked his mop.
"I usually practice with glasses of water. I'm pretty good with keeping it all contained now." Gravity said as we watched Dust get to work.
"You should have seen him try it for the first time. He just soaked himself!" Snake laughed as Gravity punched his shoulder.
Flash awkwardly fell back up to the ceiling, but he did land on his feet. I guess these two had a bit more experience around Gravity though. He handed out the mops quickly and we all got to work scrubbing the stains off of the ceiling and the high parts of the walls. We were just about finished when I heard someone ungracefully smack into the ceiling.
"Dad! Are you okay?!" Dust quickly rushed over to Cossack to help him up and pull him away from the edge of the gravity field.
"I...uh...I'm fine!" Cossack laughed as he looked down at the floor. "Wily told me to watch out for patches of low gravity, but I honestly didn't quite believe him!" He said as he brushed himself off.
"Ha! We need like a road work ahead sign to hang from the ceiling with us." Snake teased as Gravity looked pretty apologetic.
"Sorry, sir. I hope you didn't get hurt." Gravity apologized as Cossack came closer.
"It's not a problem love, just startled me a bit! I don't believe we've been introduced, I'm Dr. Cossack."
"Gravityman." He said, putting his hand out to shake.
"So can I call you Gravity?" Cossack asked which he nodded to. "I have to admit, this might be the coolest thing I've ever done." He said as he looked back down.
"Ha! Well, thank you! Your daughter said the same thing!" Gravity laughed. "But having Star around is extra fun when he can float around in the gravity field too."
"I'm sure she loves it." Cossack smiled, looking a bit disheartened. "Do you like being around her?"
"She's really nice, and she doesn't yell like Wily does when I mess up." He said as Cossack nodded along. "She gives good hugs too!"
"Wily's kind of recruited her to help him socialize Gravity's line." Flash explained. "You've really taught her a lot about robots you know? She's great with all of them."
"Well she's good with a lot of things. She's turning out to be a great young lady." Cossack said as Dust hugged his side. "I do miss her a lot though. But I'm glad to hear she's doing good."
"She misses you a lot too Cossack. She-"
"Yo! What! How did you!" We all looked down as Quick held onto the doorframe.
"Maybe we should continue this conversation on ground level." Snake laughed as Gravity carefully flipped us all over and put us down. "Gravity you can stay and talk with Cossack as long as you like. Needle and I have to go and check in with Magnet real quick. We'll be back later though." He said, giving me the look to play along.
"Yeah, I'll be right back Dust. Then we can start making dinner, okay?"
"Oh! Yeah, no problem!"
I quickly followed Snake back to our wing and started back for his room, knowing that he probably wanted to talk to me. I was a bit surprised when he stopped at Maggie's door though.
"Maggie, put your pants on! It's important!" Snake knocked politely, but looked about really to just barge in.
"It's okay, come it."
It was actually surprising to see Maggie alone in his room. Top pretty much lived in this room with him.
"Top went out to get supplies with everyone else, before you ask." He sighed as he invited us over to sit on the bed with him.
"I'm sorry about what happened Maggie." I said as I pulled him in for a hug. "I know you wouldn't do that to him."
"It's okay Needle. What did you two want to talk about?"
"Needle and Dust were getting cozy in the kitchen today. You said you wanted me to report whenever they were together." Snake said as he sat at Maggie's desk.
"I! I didn't mean to bring him with you!"
"Well you never said that!"
"Needle." Maggie turned to me and gently put his hands on my legs. "I'll admit, I was sceptical of you hanging around with that Cossack bot so much at first."
"Like, when we spent the night t-"
"Yes! Yes, very specifically that!" He panicked a bit. "Do you...do you like Dust?"
"Of course I like Dust!"
"Okay, but do you really like Dust?" He stressed the word really a bit to long.
"I, think I do. Like, love him?"
"Yes, love him." Snake clarified as he rolled his eyes.
"Well I definitely admire him. He makes me nervous sometimes though. Talking to him gets me all flustered." I admitted as Maggie lit up.
"Awww, my baby brother is in love!" He smiled and pulled me in for a hug.
"Is, is that what that is?"
"Well, it can be? I dunno, it's really hard to try and explain. I think you recognize it when you feel it." He said as Snake nodded along.
"You seem really close. I think you should as him how he feels about you as well." Snake said as he played with some of the pictures on Magnet's desk.
"Really?"
"I think you two would be really good for each other." Magnet encouraged as I no doubt lit up. "Um, so uh...do you know about...Your parts, down there?"
"My what?"
"Your intercourse organs." Snake clarified again as Maggie blushed at him.
"Well, kinda? I know they're both, there." Great, now I was getting all flustered again.
"They both, work, like humans do. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what they're actually used for."
"No, he's definitely heard you and Top enough times." Snake teased.
"Well, but like...what do they actually do?" I asked, really feeling like the naivest one in the room yet again.
"You've never like, tried them out?"
"No, not really."
"Oh Maker!" Maggie put his hand to his face. "So like, one of them goes in the other one." He said, making a loop with his one hand and putting his finger through the other.
"Well I figured that much. But like, how?" I asked again.
"When-" Snake interrupted. "When you're getting, handsy, with each other. Your uh, well...."

......

"And that's how, kinda. I guess." I was left standing in the middle of the room while the other two were straddling each other on the bed.
Wow, from this moment on I couldn't look at these two the same way. Like, Maggie had NEVER been that flexible during combat. And Snake had never make THAT noise before when he was with Flash. I guess getting handsy with those parts prompted some unexpected noises though. At least I knew the 'best' positions, well, at least to them. I don't think I could even use the word fluid again in my life though. It just felt too, dirty.
"I hope that kinda helped." Snake said as he got up and brushed himself off.
"Yes! Yeah! I uh, I think I got most of that." I lied, afraid of the repeat course.
"And! If you ever have any problems, or just questions-" Maggie said as he straightened up and brushed his hair back.
"You can ask us! Okay!" Snake finished as he made for the door, giving us a quick nod. "I have to get back to Flash and finish up our reports. But if you ever need anything Needle."
"Thank you! Yep! Got it!" I nodded along quickly as I sat down in Maggie's desk chair. "You two will be the first two I call."
Snake quickly left as Maggie fixed the sheets on his bed. I guess that was kind of an awkward conversation for all of us, but at least I learned something. Probably a bit too much about their respective sex lives...but, I guess I was glad to have some understanding now.
"So, do you think Dust would feel the same about me?" I asked as Maggie sat back down in his pile of pillows.
"I don't know Needles...But, I do think that you should ask him." He reassured as he grabbed a photoalbum from his side table.
"But what if he doesn't?"
"Then he doesn't. And it's going to hurt for a while, honestly. But, you're strong." He flipped through the book and took out a picture. "This was the night I told Top how I felt. Back when we had just been reactivated." He showed me the picture of Top sat amung the ruins of our old castle. That sure brought back some memories. "I couldn't stand the thought of losing him again, and I told him that. I told him how happy he made me, and how amazing I thought he was. Even if he didn't really believe me at the time." He chuckled a bit as I handed back the photo. "And you know what he told me?"
"What?"
"That he didn't feel the same way." Magnet sighed. "That he'd only ever seen me as the line leader, and that he didn't feel like we were compatible."
"What....what happened then?"
"I hurt...for a long time. But, I thought I'd moved on. We actually started doing things together then, and we got a lot closer. I wasn't a line leader anymore, it was more of just, me being me. And us being us."
"But, you're together now! What happened!" I leaned in eagerly as he flipped a couple of pages down.
"We were out on a supply run in the docks, you remember, when those guys shot at us in the warehouse and tried to catch us."
"I remember." God, that was a horrible day.
"Well, Top was huddled up beside me. We were being real sneaky trying to get behind those goons so we could get the rest of you guys out." He said as he stood up on his bed. "And I was stuck up to the corner of the building, and I pulled Top up with me so we could run along the catwalk." He dramatically pulled himself up so he was magnitized to the corner of the ceiling. "And, and...I had my hand, on his back to make sure he didn't fall. But, he was crying. He was scared...Hell, I was scared too. He looked up at me, with those beautiful blue eyes, and he said 'Magnet, I don't want to die like this.' And I toughed up and told him we wouldn't." He said as he dropped back down to his bed. "And we were running, and he pulled me in really close. And he told me 'I've really been thinking a lot lately, about when you told me you loved me. I don't want to die knowing that I never got to tell you that I loved you too.' I just kinda, froze. I didn't know what to do. And in retrospect I probably should have kissed him right then, but I think I had a processor lapse. I just nodded and said thanks, and then we dropped the catwalk on those assholes and we ran." He laughed
"Wow, how romantic." I rolled my eyes.
"OKAY! But that's not even the good part! Because we all got back here, and well, I went to his room to apologize. When I got there though he was crying again, and you know it breaks my heart when I see him breaking down like that."
"Oh, I know."
"So I just, got in bed beside him and I held him all night. We talked a lot, actually. We talked about a lot of things. And, I told him how much he still meant to me, especially after getting to know him so much better. He told me how much he'd come to admire me too. He told me how much he loved my smile, and my quirks, and how he loved it when I laughed at his shitty jokes. He told me how he loved listening to me tell stories and how I used to sass Quick." He laughed as I smiled too. "And he asked if I'd consider being an item with him, and of course I said yes!"
"And here we are."
"Yeah, here we are indeed." Maggie sighed. "I love him so much Needles, and I really hope that you can find someone who makes you that happy too."
"I hope so too...but, if Dust doesn't feel the same, then I can love with it. I want him to be happy too."
"Aww, Needles. Come here big guy." Maggie put his arms out as I quickly shuffled my way up onto his bed beside him again. "You're amazing, I don't even want anything bad to happen to you." He teased as he raspberried my forehead.
"I want you and Top to be together forever. You make each other so happy."
"Me too, buddy."
I happily lied down beside Maggie now as he played with my hair. He was criss crossed with the photo album on his lap when Top found his way back.
"And what do you think you're doing in my spot." Top lit up as he jumped ontop of me playfully.
"Ha! Nothing! I was just visiting!" I laughed as he tickled me. "No stop! It's not funny!"
"Well aren't you just the cutest little snuggly worm." He teased as I pulled the blankets over my head. "Okay, I'll stop." He snuck in a kiss on Maggie quickly before he looked down at the photoalbum. "You weren't showing him my hot pin ups, were you?"
"Ewww."
"No! Oh maker, no." Maggie dramatically said in disgust as Top smacked him.
"Ha, very funny Maggie." Top leaned in as I sat up to make room.
"We were just looking through old photos. How was the city."
"Meh, same as usual. Metal came along with Crash this time so we had a nice chat. I watched a squirrel bite a little kid in the park. That was funny." Top said as he snuggled up beside Maggie and smooched him again.
"I'm surprised Metal went out, he hates going out to the city."
"Just like you." Top poked back as I stretched. "We got some more veggies for dinner tonight too. You asked for mushrooms and broccoli right?"
"Fuck! I have to start dinner! I told Dust I'd be right back!" I panicked a bit as I got up. "Do I, do I have to tell him now?" I looked at Maggie as he tried to calm me down.
"Whoa! Easy big guy. You don't have to tell him right now, just do it when you're ready. Okay? Deep breaths."
"Yeah, okay. I've got it." Deep breaths, I didn't have to tell him immediately. "I'll call when dinner's ready. Thanks again Maggie."
"C'mon! Don't thank me. Just, be good, okay?"
"I will!"
I could do this, I could totally do this! This wouldn't be awkward now would it? I hope not. I still wanted to be Dust's friend, even if he didn't like me the same way I liked him.
I didn't want to mess this up. I'd have to wait to tell him when the moment was right.

Chapter Text

"Cossack, are you alright?"
I looked up from my coffee at Flash as he stood in the doorway to the kitchen.
"I'm alright Flash. How was training this morning?" I asked as he came to join me at the counter.
"Very good actually. Bright has his weapon pretty much mastered. He got me twice today." He said showing off the scorched marks on his boot armour.
"Huh, well thats nice to hear. You must be teaching him well. I never pegged Bright to be a fighter at all."
"He's more of the silent and angry type. I've noticed, believe me." He scoffed. "He is doing really well though. You should come and watch them practice sometime; I think they'd all really like it."
I'd been doing my best for the last month to avoid watching my boys practice. I'd always tried to dodge around with excuses, but now that the base frames were built for the new boys I wasn't sure how much longer I could dodge the invitation.
It was weird to think about. My boys getting all of this combat training just to put up a good play fight with Rock and lose. The Wily bot training might be getting to them a bit. I mean, they weren't supposed to win, right? Of course Wily wanted them too so he could take the credit. But, I was starting to wonder just how serious they'd all gotten about fighting Rock. This training was supposed to help them not get hurt, but I wasn't sure how I felt about them actually learning how to use their new weapons to target the others. Bright had taken two shots on Flash, and they'd hit! And this was just the practice shots! I couldn't imagine what it would be like once I had to crank up the power on the weapons.
"I'll watch them soon. Do you want me to pound out the dents for you?" I asked as I picked up my mug and started back for my lab.
"Sure, I wouldn't mind seeing the new bots too. Snake said they were coming along nicely." Flash said as he followed me.
"He was a lot of help putting the frames together, he helped a lot with the weapons system on the two of them as well."
"Snake likes a lot of the hardware stuff, well that's mainly what Wily taught him. I prefer the software myself." Flash half-bragged as I popped the door open to the lab. "Well that and all the cosmetic stuff. Pulling skin is actually kinda fun."
"I have never heard anyone say that the enjoy pulling synthetic." I laughed. "God, I hate working with that crap."
"I don't mind it. It's kind of relaxing, especially when you don't have to rush. I've patched a lot of the others too, so I got used to doing it a lot."
"Well, when the time comes I'd be more than happy to have you help me woth these two."
"Oh! You'd let me?"
"Of course! I don't mind you bots helping out. Frankly I kinda need the extra hands around." I patted one of the empty table tops as he jumped up for me.
"Well, I'd love to Cossack. You could probably teach me better that Wily could anyways." He said as he carefully unfasten the armouring from his leg. He now let me lace my arm underneath his plating to pound out the dents. "Cossack, can you keep a secret?"
"I-!" Hmmm, "Of course, Flash. What's on your mind?"
"It's nothing really, I just need someone to talk to about it." He blushed a bit.
"Can't you talk to Snake about it?" I was a bit worried, Flash and Snake were pretty much inseparable.
"I don't think he'd like me talking about it with him. I've been, seeing, someone else recently. And well, I think I really like him."
"Aren't you and Snake a thing though?"
"Well...Not officially, but...It's hard to explain...." Flash sighed as he swung his other leg back and forth. "I need an actually commitment though! And I'm tired of not being official with him..."
"Have you asked him about becoming an item?"
"Yes! I bunch of times! But, we aren't ready..."
"Hmm" When did I become the relationship councillor? "You should tell him that you're seeing someone else then. I don't know if you want to ask him again to be official or not if you really like this other bot."
"Oh maker, I do Cossack, I really REALLY do!" Flash practically wheezed out desperately. "I don't know how Snake is going to handle it though..."
"Well, as long as you're happy then I think he'll come around. He'd probably like seeing you happy instead of being kinda stuck with him."
Flash was quiet for a while after that, but I guess he needed the time to do a bit of a critical analysis. He had some big decisions to make.
I finished fixing up his armour but he wound up lying down on the table top anyways to take a breather. I sat myself back down at my computer and continued working on the A. I. chips for the two new bots. Admittedly, I wasn't having much luck with writing their programs though. Wily had handed me some files woth coding examples of his boys, but none of them seemed to quite fit the circumstances.
"Oh! Right! Kalinka had a wiggly tooth, and we wanted to know what you did for the tooth fairy?" Flash said as he sat up.
"Just a dollar or so, but she always trys to stay up late to wait for the fairy. So you have to do it in he morning before she wakes up."
"Good to know, I'll pass that on to the fifth liners. Or...maybe I should just do it...."
"Are they not getting along with her right now?"
"Oh no! They absolutely adore her! Dad just re activated the new bot though...I guess you didn't hear what happened with-"
"Uh, Gyro, and the bot from before? Pharaoh filled me in, don't worry." I assured as he continued with his story.
"Dad just, well, activated the new personality in the reworked frame. He looks a lot younger now in his civilian, but his armour is almost exactly the same."
"Has he met the others yet?"
"We tried to introduce him to Gyro..." Flash said, shaking his head. "He lost it on the poor guy...He doesn't know what happened, we never explained, we just figured that Gyro would be able to move on."
"Is the other bot okay?"
"He's a bit more skittish now, but he's still the sweetest kid. The rest of the line seems to be taking to him, but we haven't gotten Gyro to see him again."
"That's to bad...I understand where Gyro is coming from though. I'm not sure I'd have done anything different either." I sighed. "What's the new bot's name? Did he keep the same name?"
"No, Dad changed it from Steam...actually, do you want to come and meet him? I promise he's a super sweet kid!"
"Am I allowed to see him?"
"Of course! Dad doesn't care! He wants as much help socializing them anyways." Flash said as he hopped down from the bench. "C'mon, they're down in Dad's lab still."
I politely followed Flash down to Wily's lab. He swung open the door for me first as Wily turned around from his desk. It looked like he was working on some blueprints.
"Morning Cossack. What brings you down here at this time of day?"
"Well, Flash brings me. I need a break for a while." I said as Flash quickly saddled up next to Wily.
"I wanted to introduce him to Charge? Do you think that'd be okay?"
"Mmmm...he isn't doing well."
"I know, but he can help? Maybe? I want to see Charge introduced to everyone."
"...Alright, he's in the back room hooked up to a recharge station. I helped him hook it up an hour ago."
"Thanks Dad, this was Cossack." Flash said as he made his way further into the lab.
This place was massive, even compared to the lab I had at home. Wily had literally everything stuffed in here.
"So, his name is Charge?"
"Yeah...and no, he's not electical." Flash laughed a bit.
"Oh! Really?"
"Yeah don't worry, it kinda threw me for a loop yesterday too. He's a physical attacker. Like, charging at something? I dunno." He shrugged as he gently knocked on a door before opening it.
I assumed this was a recharge room. The lights were dimmed down and is was a little bit warmer than the main lab area. Then again, recharge rooms were always really cozy.
It only looked like one of the beds was occupied though, and Flash didn't look happy.
"He's not here...Gravity!" Flash quickly rushed to the bot who was asleep in the bed at the far wall. "Gravity! Get up! Have you seen a little bot? Red head? Freckles, dimples? Overalls?"
"Wha-? No! I'm sleepin'!"
"Come on Cossack, we have to find him." Flash turned abruptly, leaving the bot to wake up by himself.
Flash rushed back out of the room back to Wily, and I tried to keep up as best as I could.
"Dad, Charge is gone!"
"Gone!? What do you mean gone?"
"He's not in recharge! He must have gotten up and wandered off!" Flash was starting to look kind of worried. "What if! What if Gyro got him!"
"Hey!" Wily snapped. "Gyro might have some problems with Charge, but he wouldn't actually hurt him."
"Did you SEE him last night!"
"I DID! He was scared! Charge was scared! We spooked them all and Gyro got defencive!" Wily put his hands on his forehead. "He probably went outside. He couldn't've gotten off the island, his teleporter doesn't work yet."
"Okay, I'm going to call Snake real quick and ask him and Shadow to run a sweep." Flash said as he gently took my arm. "We'll go down to the beach."
"I'll go over to the garden." Wily said as he typed something into his computer. "Are any of his line around?"
"Gyro went out with Star this mornig for some flight practice. Gravity was sleeping...I don't know where the others are."
"That's okay, you don't mind helping look, do you Cossack?"
"Not at all! I want to make sure he's safe just as much as you do." I couldn't imagine how much of a mess I would've been if one of my newly activated boys just disappeared.
"C'mon!"
Flash practically pulled me into a run out to the kitchen again and then out to the front patio. The beach was infront of us now, with the sun just about halfway through the sky.
"We should go down to the beach, that's where he used to sit." Flash said in a bit of a frantic still.
"Do you think some of his program would have carried over like that?" I asked as I took my lab coat off being out in the heat now.
"Well...no, he was destroyed completely. But..."
"Flash?"
I looked up as I heard the familiar voice. Star lowered himself down beside Flash looking worried. He went in for the hug quickly as Flash pulled him in tight.
"What's wrong?"
"Where's Gyro?"
"He's just flying some laps, why?"
"Can you get him, and keep him distracted? We're looking for Charge."
"Charge- oh, Steam-"
"No! His name is Charge!" Flash snapped as Star jumped back a bit.
"I'm sorry, still getting used to...I'll go and get Gyro. We'll go and see Kalinka so we won't be in the way."
"Sorry, thank you." Flash sighed as I put my hand on his back.
"Don't stress Flash, he'll be fine." I tried to reassure as Star took off.
"I know...I'm just getting used to seeing him again. Well...not really. You get what I mean though." Flash sighed as he rubbed his eyes.
"We can talk-" I started, but I could alreay tell the waterfalls were coming.
"I made him! Twice! Those cute pudgy cheeks! That sweet smile! And Wily MESSED HIM UP!" He practically screamed as he armoured down.
Huh, had I seen Flash out of his armour before?
"He made him, mad...Steam wasn't...but Charge is EXACTLY how I pictured him! I'm not going to lose him again!"
"It's okay Flash, you won't. I promise." I said as I pulled him in for a tight hug. "No more tears, we have to find him first."
"Right..." Flash murmered as he pulled a bit at the back of my shirt for our hug.
"Alright." I let go of Flash and looked up as something flew over us and headed down to the beach.
"THAT BASTARD!"
I didn't feel the flash stopper, but Flash had definitly used it to have disappeared that fast. I hurried my way down to the beach, but I didn't hear any screaming or shooting yet.
I grabbed ahold of Flash as soon as I found him again, just kind of standing dumbfounded by the fence of the little beach house. He was watching the flying bot, who I had to assume was Gyro, sitting himself infront of a smaller looking boy who fit Flash's earlier description.
Charge had quickly pulled away and tried to get up, but Gyro tried to get his to sit down with him. I watched as the two half fought with each other, at one point Gyro tried to pick Charge up to bring him back to sit, but he was probably a bit to heavy for the light framed flier.
They both looked like they were crying though, and Flash was just frozen. He was afraid, not angry...and frankly that might be worse.
We watched as Charge was ungracefully dragged back down to the sandy part of the beach, and Gyro sat him down between his legs in an awkward death grip. I watched Gyro armour down to a flight suit as Charge continued to try and fight him; sleepily at best. He wasn't really running on full energy though, so I didn't expect him to fight for long. Gyro for the most part just tried to hold him still, and probably tried to tire him out. Which was decently smart on his part. I wasn't sure what he was planning to do with Charge one he ran out of energy, but I didn't think it would be anything bad. Hoepfully Gyro had come to his senses and was willing to give Charge a chance.
It didn't take entirely to long for Charge to get tired an eventually give up. Gyro's grip loosened into a much gentler hug as he leaned in to whisper something to the smaller bot. After a few moments Gyro collected Charge up as best as he could in his arms and got up.
Flash made his way over now to help the light framed bot with the little guy. Guro seemed a bit surprised to see us down here too, but more relieved that he didn't have to carry Charge back to the castle by himself.
"Thank you." Gyro whispered quietly to Flash as he lifted Charge off of him.
"No, thank you." Flash cracked a bit of a smile, nodding.
I think everything was going to be okay with these two.

Chapter Text

16.

"Dad?"
I held onto the doorframe for a moment before politely letting myself in. This was the first time I'd called him Dad.
"Oh! Star! Anything to report?"
"No, Gyro took Charge to have a nap...We were just wondering, if maybe, we could take Kalinka down to the beach?"
"Did she ask to go?"
"Well no, but we think that she'd like it." I tried to defend quickly. I should've just said yes.
"Hmm, I don't see any harm in that. Good idea, Star."
THANK GOD
"Thank you sir, I'll be on my way then. We'll have her back before dinner."
"No rush, just make sure she doesn't get sunburnt."
"Yes sir."
I felt myself puff out as I left, not realizing how tense I was. He was supposed to be our Dad too though, I shouldn't be afraid to talk to him.
I quickly made my way down my lines hall on the opposite end of the base. It really was a big difference from the other lines rooms. We were right on the edge of the castle, and the wall opposite all of our rooms was made of glass. The view of the ocean was absolutely amazing from here, and we'd all spent a lot of time with Kanlinka just sitting up on the windowsill. Especially in the afternoons when the sun was just starting to set. It was beautiful.
I knocked politely before cracking open the door to Kalinka's room.
"Wh-! What are you doing!" I hissed in a panic as Kalinka and Napalm combed in the hair dye into a sleeping Crystal's hair.
"Shh! You're going to ruin the surprise!" Kalinka hushed as I quickly made my way over.
"Oh maker..."
"It's okay Star, it's just his bangs. We can always lace new hair in anyways." Napalm said as Crystal shifted a bit in his lap. "He's did fall asleep on is though, so lesson learned for him."
I laughed a bit as I sat myself on Kalinka's bed. I leaned forward and pulled the girls hair back into a pony tail quickly.
"Maker, give me strength."
Napalm and Kalinka laughed as they finished foiling up Crystal's hair to let the colour set in. At least it was the colour that he'd said he wanted and not like a gross red or something.
"I guess he isn't coming to the beach with us then." I said as I armoured down now to relax.
"We're going to the beach!" Kalinka adked excitedly, nearly pushing Napalm over as she jumped up.
"Well, if you're not to busy here-" I began but she had already run for her makeshift closet.
"Close your eye! I'm getting changed!" Kalinka ordered as we both obediently closed our eyes and looked away. "Is there a swimsuit in here?"
"Ummmh...top drawer? I think we got one? Like one of those body suit looking things?" Napalm questioned, eyes still closed.
"Oh! Yep! I see it!"
That was our first kinda 'mission' we had. We'd gone out last week to get Kalinka some new clothes. The last line had grabbed some of her stuff from her house, but they obviously didn't get a lot. Kalinka was kind of like, our second master? It was weird. We were still loyal to Wily, but something in my program was also loyal to Kalinka. We were more than just her babysitters. She took care of herself for the most part, but if she gave us an order to do something for her then we had to do it.
"Okay you can open your eyes now!" Kalinka cheered as I felt her jump up on the bed beside me.
"Oh! That is a nice colour on you!" I complimented the light blue flowered one peice that Crystal had found.
"It's so pretty!! It's kinda loose, but that's okay!"
Kalinka and Cossack had both been losing weight. Not enough to really notice yet, but if they were here for much longer than they were really going to start showing it. There were a lot of us here to take care of now...but they always came first. I wish we could do a better job of taking care of them.
"C'mon! Let's go!" Kalinka smiled as she grabbed the towels off of her shelves and pushed them at me to carry. "I want to swim!"
"Okay okay!" I laughed as Napalm picked the sleeping Crystal up. "You got him?"
"I'll take him back to bed, I'll catch up in a second."
"Perfect, okay we'll be down around the docks."
I lead Kalinka out of her room and down to the bottom porch. Sometimes we'd sit out here too and eat lunch when it wasn't to windy. The whole island was really nice.
Kalinka gave my arm a tug as I looked back at her. She looked, optimistic. I laughed, knowing exactly what she wanted.
I started up my thrusters and quickly looped back behind her. I grabbed her around the waist as she squealed happily.
"Ha! Yeah! Higher, Star!"
She was getting to be quite the thrill seaker to say the least. I didn't go too much higher, but zipping down to the docks wasn't going to take too long now that we were airborn. I watched as the sea approach, and got a devious idea.
"Uh oh, I think my grip is slipping-" I teased as I false dropped Kalinka.
"Ha! Very funny!" She sassed back as I dropped the towels on the pier before heading out over the water.
"Oh no! My thrusters! Failing." I dipped her in the water playfully as I dropped down. "The forces of gravity, they're too strong!"
She laughed as her toes touched the waves.
I floated back up a bit as she looked down.
"Don't!"
"To late!" I laughed as I let her go, splashing down into the water.
I dropped in quickly behind her as she resurfaced and tredded water.
"ITS COLD!" She complained as she grabbed onto me.
My thrusters switched out with a couple of hickups to filter the water throught instead of the air. Hopefully I'd get better at the transition
"It's not that bad!" I teased as she started swimming for the ladder. At least she was a strong swimmer.
I pulled her along to the ladder with me as she grabbed onto it. She went up a couple of the rungs before twisting herself around and jumping back into the water.
Not gunna lie, I panicked a bit when she was under for a long time. But she did eventually come back up for air.
"I forgot this was the ocean. The salt water hurts my eyes."
"Oh! We have some extra sets of goggles I think? Probably some snorkles too if you're feeling adventurous."
"Will you go diving with me!?"
"Of course!"
She quickly shimmied herself up the ladder as I followed. She ran back down to the beach hut happily jumped up to the front porch.
I cracked open the box of water stuff we had down here from when the secend gens used to swim with Bubble all the time. I guess my line would be using this now too since Wave was just brand new. Wave is such a sweetheart though, he just doesn't like being alone. I guess Bubble was out here too though, somewhere. So at least neither of them would be alone. I guess that was a thing with water bots though; none of them liked being alone.
"C'mon Star! Jump off the dock with me!" Kalinka laughed as she got ready to run for the end.
I quickly outpaced her and soared off the end of the dock. I stopped myself right above the surface of the water though and watched her come belly flopping in behind me.
"Owww!!" Kalinka laughed ad she resurfaced and I plopped myself in down beside her. I loved this lil gal. She was always the highlight of my day.
I gasped in shock as I felt hands wrap around my legs and pull me under. I struggled to get my baring again as I fought back to the surface. Wave surfaced behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"Maker! You gave me a processor attack!!"
"Wave!!" Kalinka cheered happily as she swam over to meet us.
She was suddenly lifted out of the water on Dive's shoulders as he surfaced under her. Her smile quickly turned surprised tears.
"Wh-why did you bring him over? Wily said-" I whispered back to Wave as he floated with me in his grip now.
"He, needs this...she needs this. Wily won't find out if we don't tell him." Wave responded quietly as I felt his lips graze my neck.
"Dive!!! Oh Dive I-I miss you!!" Kalinka hick-uped, trying to hug Dive around the neck.
"I'm just glad you're doing okay...we're all so worried!" Dive said as he headed for shallower water as we followed the now.
"Star takes really good care of me! Don't worry! But you! You and Dad! And the others!! What about-!" Kalinka was fighting to try and hold the tears back so she could talk.
"Come on now! Like we can't take care of ourselves!" Dive beemed with fake confidence. "We wouldn't let anything happen to Dad, you know that..."
"I do....I'm just..." she paused as she looked back as Wave and myself.
Scared, she was so scared. She woke up with nightmares more often than not. It was starting to worry my line. We were always there for her though, and we hated hearing her wake up screaming in the middle of the night. I'm surprised Wily didn't hear her all the time. We were always right there though to make her smile again, and help her calm down again. It was hard, seeing her that upset all the time. We had fun, really we did! But, we were no substitute for her real family. We were just temporary.
"I'm just so happy to see you again..." Kalinka eventually spat out as Dive sat her down beside him in the shallow water for a proper hug.
"Same sis...same."
We were no substitute for Kalinka's real family. The second they left here she wouldn't give us a second thought...Yeah I was upset, but I'd much rather see her with her real family again. At least it would put her at ease again.
"C'mon you crybabies. I thought we were supposed to be having fun." Wave tried to tease playfully as Dive wipes Kalinka's eyes delicately.
"Yeah...yeah. I guess you shouldn't be seeing me..." Kalinka sighed as Dive played with her hair.
"Hey, I won't tell if you don't!" I chirped as Wave pulled me back underwater.
He gave me the look, the 'don't fuck this up' look, before he pulled me back to the surface with him.
"Really!" Kalinka cried back happily.
"Of course...you deserve to see your family. Even if Dr. Wily doesn't want you to." Wave smiled softly before he finally let go of me. "Now are you two done getting caught up? 'Cause I'd like to get back to enjoying today. Not watching you two cry all over each other." He swam up and slugged Dive in the shoulder, which of course prompted and Marine bot into action.
"You prick! I wasn't crying!"
I sighed out happily as I watched Dive tackle Wave down to the sandbed in the shallows. Kalinka laughed along too as she fixed her snorkle mask again to join then underwater.
They needed this, the both of them. Today was going to be great.

Chapter Text

17.

I dried myself off quickly as I pulled the towel around Kalinka. God, seeing her smile again was all I really needed. I knew Wave and his brothers were taking really good care of her, but this was really reassuring.
"Okay squirt, the sun is starting to go down. You've had a long day." I caught her mid yawn as she held onto my side.
"Dive no, I'm not tired I promise."
"Nope, it's time for bed worm." I said, picking her up and flinging her over my shoulder. "Come on, let's get you to bed."
I heard Star and Wave laugh behind me as they followed along now. I didn't really know where I was going, but I could probably make a pretty good guess.
"Dive, I can walk..." Kalinka huffed a little bit between another yawn.
I let her down lightly as Star took the opportunity to skip up beside us now.
"Do you want us to get dinner for you Kalinka? Are you hungry?" He asked sweetly as I carefully put Kalinka down.
"No...it's fine Star. I'm not hungry right now."
Damn! Now she was getting sad again. I hated this! I hated seeing her so sad!
"Oh! Of course. You're probably just ready for bed after all this." Star smiled.
He tried so hard.
Star opened the sliding door on the bottom porch and stopped for a moment. He turned back and gave me a bit of a concerned look, but if he hadn't gotten the hint that I was going to be the one to put Kalinka to bed tonight then he was about to.
"Just, be quiet..." Star hushed as he turned down another hall to where I assumed his line slept.
Kalinka followed him though, so I had to assume that she probably stayed around here with them too.
Star politely opened one of the doors and let us in.
"Okay, turn around. I'm putting my PJ's on!" Kalinka ordered as Star and I both turned around. It looked like Wave had stayed back at the beach. Understandable, he wasn't great on land yet.
I'd been trying to help the young bot around a bit since he was a bit more accustomed for land than Bubble was, but he still had trouble moving very fast without his flippers getting in the way.
"Okay, turn around." Kalinka said somberly as she crawled into bed.
I gave Star one last look as he nodded to give me the go ahead.
I sat down at the foot of Kalinka's bed as she pulled her blankets up around herself.
"Kalinka...I have to go now." I said softly as she rolled over and looked away.
I sighed.
"We can see each other again soon though, okay? You can come to the beach as much as you want, and I'll be there." I gently rubbed her leg as she shifted to sit back up.
She was crying.
"Please, don't go!" She flung herself at me, her arms quickly wrapping around my shoulders.
"Shhh, shhh...it's okay." Don't cry don't cry don't cry. "I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Noo! I don't want you to go!"
Great. I wiped a tear out of my eye as I hugged her back tightly. I didn't want to leave her here either, but who knows what Wily would do if he found out.
"You...you should stay the night Dive. We'll make sure Wily doesn't...you know what I mean." Star said as he locked the door behind him as he found a spot on the floor near Kalinka's bed.
I guess he spent the night here with her. His little spot looked almost comfortable with pillows. This at least wasn't the first night he'd be spending on the floor.
"Okay, I'll be right here." I said as I stood up and took a seat beside her bed instead. She grabbed my hand as she lied down to make sure I wasn't going anyways. I would lie on the bed with her, but it wasn't really big enough for the two of us.
"Try and get some sleep, I'll still be here in the morning. I promise." I gently kissed the back of her hand before settling back against the wall.
"Okay...goodnight Dive. Goodnight Star."
"Goodnight love."
It was quiet, for a long time after that. I had to assume that Kalinka had eventually fell asleep, but I was just sat their waiting. I wasn't sure that I could sleep like this, but I'd at least give it a shot.
I felt a hand light touch my leg on my opposite side as I turned to look at Star, who also seemed to be quite awake. He was holding his link cord from his ear guard out to me.
Oh...that was...that was something I hadn't done before. I thought linking was suppost be be like, a private thing! I wonder is Star knew that...I doubt it would have come up before; especially if he was linking up within his line.
I took the end of the cord lightly and fumbled to open my ear guard with the same hand. I didn't want to yank the cord right out of Star either; they didn't tend to be incredibly long cords. I was a bit surprised when Star cozied up next to me until he was practically lying in my lap. I guess if I'd learned one thing about Wily bots though it would be that they are EXTREMELY touchy-feely with each other. I guess it had carried over to Star now too.
I sudden rush of information and emotions caught me a bit by surprise as I linked up to Star.
He was sad...damn he was really sad.
'Do you think Kalinka is mad at us?'
'Us! What do you mean-'
'Oh no! I mean us like my line! Not you! No!'
'Well...maybe a little bit. She's probably just more sad that she can't be with us. How would you feel in her position?'
'...Horrible...'
Star sighed as he shifted around a bit. I gently put my other arm around him to give him some support. He looked exhausted too...he probably spent more of his time with Kalinka too keep and eye on her. He worried about her.
'She's scared...'
'I...I know'
I would be too of I didn't know my brothers were there for me. I didn't spend a lot of time with them right now, and that was my fault. But I still knew that I could talk to them if I needed them. Dad too! He was here, and if I needed him I could always just go and talk to him.
'She has a lot of nightmares. I usually spend the night here so I can calm her down...it's gotten a bit better, but it still scares her.'
'...What are they about? Does she tell you?'
'It's...They're about losing you and your brothers, and Cossack. She's afraid to see you fight.'
'But...Rock wouldn't hurt us! Well, at least I hope he wouldn't....He know's us, surely he wouldn't.'
'That's what she tells herself...but she still had nightmares. I think she's getting used to them though, and frankly that scares me more.'
'Yeah, that's heavy....'
I peaked back up on the bed at Kalinka as she shifted a bit. Poor thing...
But, Rock wouldn't... At least, that's what I told myself. This was all going to be over soon, and then I could go back to work and everything would be okay!
'Sometimes when she wakes up she screams for you guys and Cossack...it...it's hard, seeing her like that- and- it's- it's because of us-'
Star's thoughts hitched as he put his hands to his face. I gave him a squeeze as he turned into my chest.
'We...I scare her...I'm not scary! I don't want to scare her Dive!'
'You! You're not scareing her Star...Wily is. If anything you should hate him for scareing her like this!'
'I'm just trying to-to help her! And she screams-at-at me! She's so important to me Dive! I just want her-to be happy, and safe, and smile!'
I slowly pulled my hand out of Kalinka's so I could pull Star in closer for a hug. The poor kid...
'I don't want to scare her...I don't want to be a Wily bot....'
'No one ever said that you only had to be a Wily bot, Star. You are so much more than just Wily's name! I wish you guys could see that more often...you guys have freedom! You can do whatever you want once Wily's done with you! Have you not seen what your brothers do!'
'...Well, no...I'm usually with Kalinka. They don't talk to us much anyways...'
'Well, you should talk to them more! I know all of you guys are on like, a family server, you should be able to call them.'
'I can't just call them! They're busy!'
'Listen, I can tell you right now that they would love it if you called them up and asked to hang out.'
He quieted down now. He was obviously thinking it over.
He gently reached up and pulled his line out of my ear guard, which sent a chill down my spine. Oh, I don't know if I liked that or not... He seemed apologetic at least, I guess he was just used to the disconnect spark feeling. He must do it a lot...
That of course didn't motivate him to move off of my lap though. He cuddled up tighter against my chest as I put my arm back on Kalinka's bed to hold her hand. I wrapped my other arm around Star and pulled him in close.
He at least seemed a bit more settled now. He wiped his face again before looking up with me with a soft smile. He still didn't look too good, but hopefully I was getting to him.
I leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. I was really upset that Kalinka was having such vivid nightmares...she knew Rock though! He wouldn't hurt us!
...
Would he...

Chapter Text

18.

"Okay Cossack! I'm done with Ring!" Flash said as he wheeled his chair away from the table where one of the bots was strapped down.
"...Ring?"
"Well, you said his capture weapon was going be like a ring right? I think Ring works well as a name. Ring and Skull. Has a nice 'ring' to it." Flash said as he made eye contact with me across the room with a shit eating grin.
"I hate you, and everything you stand for." I responded, deadpan.
"What! C'mon Bright, that was a good one!" Flash laughed.
I rolled my eyes, but I still slid my chair up beside his to peak over at my younger brother.
"When you said you liked pulling synthetic I didn't think you meant you were actually good at it." I teased as I looked back at him.
"When Cossack said you actually talked I didn't think he meant you were a little bitch." Flash stuck his tongue out at me teasingly. I pretended to be offended.
"C'mon, I told you two to play nice." Dad semi-scolded as he put a hand on the back of my chair. "Oh, Flash! He looks great!"
"Wh- Really! I...I'm still learning..."
"No Flash, he looks perfect...you did a really good job with him." Dad said as he gently leaned over the bot to touch his face. "He...he looks just how I pictured him."
Uh oh, Dad was going to cry. I prepared myself for the impending pick-up, but it never came. He simply clapped his hand on Flash's shoulder proudly, kinda like he did with Dive and Pharaoh.
I guess to say things had stayed the same would be a gross understatement. Dad had changed so much in the last two months...He'd certainly got a lot tougher. He'd gotten a lot closer with Flash too...Snake was still here sometimes, but since the two had their falling out Flash seemed to be the one to show up more often than not. I wouldn't say they were avoiding each other now that they decided they didn't want a relationship, but they certainly weren't keen on spending time together. Flash was always in a good mood now though with his new partner. I mean, it clearly wasn't a Wily bot, otherwise they'd probably be here too, but it was still nice to see Flash so happy.
He wasn't much of a fighter anymore, hell, he wasn't much of a fighter to begin with. I think he was really enjoying learning how to be more of a lab assistant now, or, I guess they called it a medic?
"You never told me what you wanted to do with Skull." Flash said as he turned his chair around to face my other little brother.
"I'm still not sure...he's basically ready to go now, but we could give him a civilian form." Dad said as he sat down on Skull's table.
"Getting him on a civilian frame might be a bit, challenging, don't you think?" Flash said as he pulled himself up to the table. "I wouldn't even know where to begin with a synthetic. I think he looks fine just like this honestly."
"Then he'll always be in his armour though." I added as I pulled my chair up beside Flash.
"Well, he is kinda built around his armour anyways. It should be pretty comfortable for him either way." Flash said.
"But still...then he'd be the only one that's different...we'll have to work on an alternative frame like Air and Needle have. I might have to ask Wily for help with that though." Dad said as he gently rubbed the sides of Skull's mask.
He had turned out really well too. He was terrifying. But I knew his heart was in the right place though. We'd programmed him to be like that.
"I'm sure he'd be happy to help, he's done the same with a lot of the fifth gens too." Flash smiled as he scooted back over to Ring.
"How are they doing? Have they sorted everything out?"
"They're doing a lot better actually! They're all really close with each other now. And they're just the sweetest kids." Flash gushed. "Kalinka's been teaching them really well. They might be turning out different from what Wily expected of them, but I think it's for the better." He laughed.
"Star always seems so happy! I'm glad that the whole line is turning out like that." I said as I played with Skulls fingers absently.
"They're all just peaches. Some of them look really big and tough, but they still have a soft spot for her." He paused. "They still want to see her back home with you guys, but they're going to miss her a whole lot."
I couldn't help but feel like the fifth gens were getting a bit to reliable of Kalinka. What were they going to be like when she left...
"I-"
There was a light knocking on the door before it creaked open softly. I saw Bubble's curly green locks poke around the edge of the door as he peaked into the lab.
I hadn't seen Bubble on land since we got here. Sometimes he would come in for dinner on the weekend, but he'd always make a hasty exit.
"Bub! What are you....what's wrong." Flash quickly got up and all but ran up to Bubble as he stood meekly at the door.
"It's nothing...I...I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" He said shyly as Flash gently picked him up. He cracked the smallest of smiles as he looked up at Flash.
"Of course not, please come in." Dad said as I spun myself back to Ring's table.
"Well I, I really just needed to talk to Flash really quick." Bubble said as he gently grabbed Flash's arm which prompted him to pick Bubble up.
"Is it private? Do you want to go back out to the beach house to talk?"
"Well, it's about you. It's not really private I wouldn't say." Bubble shrugged slightly. "Wood just told me who it was that you're dating now, and-"
"What! How does!" Flash was shocked, and his face was turning redder. "Well, Wood knows literally everything. I should have known he'd be the first to figure it out."
"I just wanted to tell you to be careful. There are a lot of bots that come as a, package deal...with him...Not with him, but you know." Bubble still looked fairly concerned.
"I know. We've been keeping things pretty quiet though. I think we'll be okay."
"Well, just be careful. I worry about all of you..."
"I'm sorry Bub. We'll be careful, I promise."
The two exchanged a bit of a relieved look with each other that probably said more than anything they could muster. I was glad that they all still watched out for each other, especially after everything that they'd been through. I wish I was closer with my brothers...
Sure we were all still family, but I always felt like the odd one out. It had gotten better since we were all weaponized, but I was still cooped up in the lab all of the time. I loved being in the lab with Dad, but sometimes I just wanted to go and DO something wirh my brothers. I always missed out on the fun stories and I was more of just an observer to their adventures than I was actually part of it.
"That...that's all I really wanted to say..." Bubble said as Flash put him down.
"Mmm...really? You don't usually drag yourself all the way up here unless there's a bribe involved." Flash poked a bit of fun as Bubble slugged him in the thigh. "oww."
"You dork, can't I just be worried about my dumb brothers in peace?" Bubble rolled his eyes as Flash turned back to his seat. "How are your new bots coming along Cossack?"
"Very well actually, we're probably almost ready to get them up and moving."
I didn't think we there THAT close, we still had a ton of coding to do. At least the bodies were pretty much done, but that was really the easy part.
I had no idea how to actually code much, and neither did Flash. We were probably just going to stay out of Dad's way while he put the coding together by himself.
"Oh! They look really good." Bubble complimented as Flash lifted him onto his lap to look at Ring. "He looks like Metal, but blonde...no, he looks like Cossack but young."
"Hey! C'mon I'm not that old." Dad huffed as I laughed.
I guess Ring did kinda remind me of Dad. Huh, funny.
"Well, he looks like you back a few years then." Bubble corrected. "I didn't expect them to be finished so quickly."
"The boby part doesn't take too long, the finished coding will probably still take a while." I said as I pulled myself up on Ring's workbench.
"Well, they still look really good." Bubble smiled. "Are you excited to have new little brothers?"
"More, concerned. I don't know what they'll be like after all of this." I admitted.
"Bright, they have all of us here with them. They're going to be just fine." Dad said as he joined us.
"I know, I just...have a feeling. It's going to be difficult."
"Well, you're here for them. To make things easier for them already." Bubble said as he stretched. "I'd say you're already doing a really good job."
"Geez, since when has he been so insightful?" I teased, but the two of them laughed it off.
"He's always like this." Flash laughed along and he raspberried Bubble's cheek.
"Awww eww! Keep you cooties off of me!" Bubble complained as he fought to get down. "I'm going back to the ocean!"
"Awww Bub! C'mon!"
I laughed as Flash quickly got up and scooped Bubble back into his arms. I'm glad Bubble was close with his brothers; I wish we were all closer with Dive, but he was never around.
"Put me down you heathen!"
"Nope! You're stuck with me now!" Flash laughed as he flung Bubble over his shoulder. "I'll be back in a little while. I'm going to go bring mr. Flippers back down to the water."
"No rush." I rolled my eyes at the two playfully.
"Aww try not to miss me too much Bright, you're still my favourite lil bot."
"I'll count the second." I stuck my tongue out befoee the two disappeared.
"I'm glad you and Flash get along." Dad said as I turned back to my work.
"What?"
"I'm glad you two tolerate each other. I think Flash needs more friends." Dad chuckled a bit. "He seems kinda, lonely. But when he's with his brothers, and you, he really enjoys himself."
I'd never really seen it like that. Sure, Flash and I got along, but that's because Flash was a good guy to talk to! I actually kinda liked having him in the lab...geez, it was going to be weird going back home and only having Dad and I again.
"What do you think is going to happen to Flash after all of this?" I asked.
"Oh...well, hopefully he's learned a bit. He'll probably just go back to what he was doing before...Why? Are you worried about him?"
"Hmmmm, a little bit. He's not a fighter." I said as I gently laced my fingers through Rings. "He deserves better than this. I think he knows that he can do better than this too. I think that's why he's seeing someone now."
"Well, I definitely think he's happier now. I guess that's one step closer. Who knows? He has a free will. He can do whatever ge wants. Who knows, maybe someday he'll start building bots on his own? But, I do think he's happy where he is for now."
"I want to know who he's dating. I might ask him during our next training run..." I pondered as I fidgetted with Ring's hand. "Okay, yeah, I really like the name Ring too. It really suits." I smiled as Dad sat himself infront of his computer and started typing.
"Ring it is then!"
Ring and Skull, yeah I could get used to that.

Chapter Text

......................................................................
19.

"I thought I heard someone in here."
I looked over my shoulder away from the training dummy to find Gyro watching me from the balcony.
"Evening." I greeted.
"Couldn't sleep?" Gyro asked as he gently coasted down to me.
"Mmm...I'm just not tired." I said as I cleaned the singed edges of my buster to keep the burn stains off.
Gyro quickly picked up the target and readjusted it for me at the other end of the range before coming back to stand beside me. I took up my stance and fired, but my shots all glanced off the edges of the target.
"I don't know how your brothers do it. This training stuff is hard." I half laughed, half sighed as I gave Gyro a grin.
"Pfft, you should see what Wily has us doing. On top of watching your little sister; it's a full time job." He laughed as he folded his propellers back and found a seat.
I let my buster dissolve back to my normal bandaged hand before sitting down beside him. He had looked a lot more tired recently since he'd been coming to line leader gossip session. He was looking more like a Wily bot everyday...I mean, I shouldn't say anything. Bright had called me out for the sharper than normal eye liner, which was really saying something. I was liking the look though, I just looked more in command recently. Like a line leader.
I definitely felt myself acting like it more too. Which, was scary. But at the same time I was okay with it. I was starting to understand what the others felt of their brothers, their family. I felt the same way about my family, and I wanted to be able to protect them when the time came.
"I don't remember what you look like without your armour on." Gyro leaned back as he armoured down, finally sporting a complete alt form.
"Pfft, fine." I felt my armour dissolve as I leaned back to match Gyro, "this jog your memory?"
"Ha! Yeah, kinda." He smiled. "How come you look so different from your brothers?"
"What?"
"Like, they're all blonde, crystal blue eyes..." he stopped himself, "you know what, dumb question."
"No it's okay! I was just commissioned to look like this. The site manager who commissioned me is Egyptian, I look more like her family. Well, they're like my second family really."
"And the others weren't?"
"No, well, they wanted Drill to be a dirty blonde. That's about it. Dad had creative liberty with them, so they look more like Kalinka."
"What's Egypt like? What's it like working for people?" Gyro asked as he leaned forward.
"WITH people. It's interesting at times. It certainly has it's ups and downs. I love the dig cite crew like family though, and I hope they think of me the same...even after this. I miss them a lot."
I really missed them sometimes. I saw them more then I saw my own family most of the time. The site manager really took me into her family though, her son called me his big brother when he was big enough to talk. I'd spent so many holidays with them, had so many celebrations. God I was getting old...I'd had my fair share of 'birthdays' by this point. I wonder if it was sneaking up on the others too.
"Egypt is amazing though, and the people are really wonderful once they get to know you. There are a lot of dumb tourists of course, but I like seeing the little kids standing beside the pyramids in awe." I chuckled.
"You've done so much cool stuff."
"Well, not that much. I still spend a huge amount of time just working."
"And you like that?"
"Well, yeah. I love what I do, and what I do for the site helps the archeologists. I like seeing them light up when we find something new." I paused. "People are, confusing, but they can be really great. A lot of them, no. But, some of them."
"You say that like you've had some bad times?"
"A few...there are some people that just don't like robots." I shrugged. "I guess you guys know that though."
"Dad talks a lot about 'cleansing' those types of people." Gyro said wearily. "They've killed a lot of those people."
"I know."
"I don't know if we could do it. Like, the same way Quick and Magnet do."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you ever wonder what Quick and Magnet do when they're on 'special leave'? Because they certainly aren't out getting groceries." Gyro huffed a bit. "They're really, deadly, you know."
"Well, yes. You guys have orders though. They do it to protect everyone else...well, all robots really. But, it doesn't really work..."
"Looking at their kill records...I think you'd be impressed. I don't know how the two of them have time for anything else really."
"I guess they have lots of practice."
I knew Wily bots killed a LOT of anti-robotics activists, but I didn't think it was THAT many. They all had blood on their hands, but they had orders. Frankly, they couldn't do much else. They didn't just kill randomly anymore though, they had targets.
"How old are you Pharaoh?"
"Me? I guess I'm just about 5 now. Or did you mean my processor age?"
"No, I meant your build age...Wily says not to expect to live that long."
"What?!"
"Something about savouring the moment. He doesn't have the resources to repair us...it's easier not to get our hopes up."
"Listen, the only time I've ever been damaged to the point of shutting down was from a human; because I couldn't defend myself. You'll make it passed 5 if you aren't dumb." I tried to encourage.
"I don't want to do what Quick and Maggie do. I just want to have like, a peaceful retirement. You know?"
"Yeah, I get that. I get that a lot. I think after this I'm going to need a long break too."
"You...you know Ro-Megaman though, right? That's what Kalinka says."
"I do, he's really close with my family actually. I'm kinda worried about what he'll do to Wily once he figures out what's happening. Well, Roll will probably destroy him before Rock get's the chance." I half laughed.
"Roll?"
"Oh! Roll is a sweetheart. She's Megaman's twin sister. She's really good friends with Kalinka."
"Really? What's her weapon?"
"No, she isn't weaponized. Only Rock is. She's a force to be rekoned with though!"
"What? She doesn't have any weapons though!"
"Really? She'd kick your ass any day."
"Ha! Unlikely! I've been practicing." Gyro taunted as he crossed his arms.
"Oh really now?"
"You bet! C'mon, try me." Gyro said as he got up and positioned himself.
"You want to spar?"
"Yeah! Come on! Unless you're afraid I'll break you old man." He said with a smug look.
My fist met his face in a matter of seconds. He dropped like a ton of bricks. At least that'll be the last time he calls me old. Maggie always said I hit hard, but I didn't think I was that rough.
"No fair, you didn't say ready-set-!" Gyro rolled onto his back as I squatted beside him now.
"Come on, you dropped like Top's panties around Maggie."
"Oh, eww, maker! That's an image I didn't need." He laughed as I offered him my hand. I pulled him back to his feet as he rubbed his cheek sorely.
"You need to pay attention. You can't expect everyone to give you a heads up. Again?"
This time he was the first to swing, just barely grazing my arm as I moved to the side. I quickly grabbed him by the arm and flipped him back. He stuck the landing though and got a decent kick in on my leg. I covered my face as he went in for a strike and pushed him back. I landed a hit square in his chest, knocking him back into the training dummy.
"Arms up, Gyro!" I looked back up to the balcony to find Wily leaned over the railing to watch us.
That was new. Wily was never down here. I guess he couldn't sleep either.
The distraction caught me for a second as Gyro slugged me in the collar bone. At least Gyro didn't have his aim down yet.
I stumbled back a few paces and ducked down at Gyro went in for another lunge. I quickly swept out his feet, forcing him onto his back before I sprung back up. I struggled to get a grip on him but he was already up and away. I went in for a jab to the stomach, but he quickly bent out of the way. Not bad.
I pushed my hair out of my face quickly as I surveyed the area. I guess if Wily wanted I show then I was going to give him a good one. I darted off to some of the equipment to the side as Gyro kept good pace with me. I quickly grabbed the pole of out of the punching bags and flung myself back around to Gyro feet first. I got his hip, which at least stunned him long enough for me to jump up to one of the pull up bars. Gyro was right behind me as I jumped to one of the beams and flipped myself back to the ground as I armoured up. I turned and grabbed Gyro quickly, and before he could react I threw him up over my head.
He visibly panicked before armouring up and swooping down at me, arms out. I caught his arm.
And in the spur of the moment...
....
I flipped his arm behind his back and caught the spinning blades as gently as I could. I didn't want to actually hurt him, let alone accidentally snap a prop.
We were both panting as he dropped down to his knees and gave in.
"I give, I give! You aren't that old I guess." He laughed as I let him go.
"You better believe it."
"Well done you two." Wily said as he walked around the staircase to join us in the training room.
"Couldn't sleep?" Gyro asked as he brushed himself off as he got up.
"Sort of...Wood's sick..."
"Sick?" Gyro asked as Wily took a seat on the vault platform.
"Well, plant sick. Some of his organic parts have begun to break down...he's been through a lot of wear and tear. I've just been up to check on how he'd doing." Wily sighed as Gyro sat himself beside him.
"Oh..."
"I just didn't expect it to creep up so fast on him."
"How do we-" I started, "How do you fix it?" I asked as I armoured down again.
"I don't exactly have the resources to fix him. I'd need more of the wood he's made from, and the chemicals that I used to put the finish to his internal mechanics."
"Could you replace his parts with something else?" I questioned.
"Well, I did plan on stealing Dr. Astil's blueprints for Plantman and copying the system that he has. But I can't exactly order that at the moment...Quick and Magnet are both out on, business."
"I....well..."
Maker, what was I doing? Was I really about to do this for Wily?
No, I was going to do it for Wood. He'd been nothing but kind to me, and frankly I'd kind of been an ass to him in the beginning.
"Can I go and talk to Wood?"
"Of course, Pharaoh. He's in his room. Just, try to not get him up. Once he starts moving he doesn't want to stop."
"Thank you."
I headed out of the training hall at a pretty brisk pace.
Why had no one else said anything about Wood breaking down? Did they even know what was happening? Had Wily told them that their brother was literally dying and that he couldn't do anything to stop it?
I was pretty much in a jog as I found my way to Wood's room in the second lines hall. There wasn't much movement in the wing, but I guess the others had either turned in for the night at this point or they were out doing stuff. I gently knocked on the door closest to the end of the hall and let myself in quietly.
Wood's room always smelled so nice and rich and earthy...it didn't right now. The flower pots on his window all seemed so droopy and sad, like they know that Wood was sick too. The lights weren't off, but the curtains were closed and the lights were dimmed down.
Huh, I guess this is what I looked like on my first night. Now here I was in Wood's role.
"Wood, are you awake?" I gently asked as I sat on the end of his bed. He rolled over and looked at me, but he quickly lied down again.
"Pharaoh."
"It's okay, don't get up on my account." I tried to lighten the mood, which at least got a chuckle out of him. "You don't have to get up, just listen."
Maker, he was so cold. I expected at least the typical heat from the residual systems running, but it was hardly there.
"You really don't look good..."
"It's okay...I kinda knew that I'd always be the first to go."
"Hey! No, don't say that."
"Really, I'm alright. I didn't even expect to live through my fight with Rock."
"C'mon, you can't talk like that. What would your brothers think?"
"Probably not much..."
"Nu-uh, nope. Look at me Wood. I was really shitty to you early on, I'm going to make it up to you. Okay?"
"What? I don't care, Pharaoh. I know you were angry."
"No, I'm going to go and get the parts you need. Okay? I just need the co-ordinates for the base so I can get back here."
"Why...why didn't you just ask Wily. He's probably the one who told you, right?"
"Well yes, but he still might not want me leaving. Just, c'mon, we're wasting time."
"Heh, now you sound like Flash." He airdropped me the co-ordinates as he rolled back over. "Don't get into trouble, okay?"
"I'll be fine. You're going to be fine, okay? I'll be back by morning."

.....

It had been a while since I'd done such a long distance teleport. At least since we teleported to the fortress from Russia.
I landed in Brazil around five in the morning, which at least gave me a bit of an idea of what timezone the fortress was in.
More specifically, I'd landed in the greenhouse sanctuary that Plant and Astil called home. I'd been here a couple of times in the past, but never for long. When I was here I was usually to busy working to really enjoy the emense size of the greenhouse.
I quickly found my way out to the yard and up to the house section that sat behind the greenhouse. Hopefully Plant was home. I was sure I could trick him into copying his data for me. I wasn't sure if Astil would be so willing to give up his secret data.
I climbed up the front porch stairs and reached up for the window that faced off of it. This was Plant's room. Thank god he was an only bot, I couldn't imagine trying to sneak around Light's house to try and only wake one of them up. I pulled myself up on the windowsill and poofed up a fire from my buster so I could see into the room better.
I knocked on the window lightly and tried to watch for movement. Luckily, Plant was here. Unluckily, he slept like a rock in a coma.
I considered trying to pick the lock on the window, but evidently enough none of my new 'evil' programming came with an inheriant abilty to pick locks. I'm sure I could figure it out though...
Or.
I knocked louder on Plant's window and sent him a message through his com-link. There was no way I was going to try and break in. If Astil had this place half as booby-trapped as Dad did back hone then I didn't stand a chance, even if I was built to disable traps. Ancient traps and modern security were completely different things.
I saw Plant finally roll over as I continued to tap on the window.
He practically jumped out of bed when he saw me sitting menacingly in his window. Granted, I probably could have done this better so I didn't scare him...but.
"Pharaoh? What are you doing here? It's too early..." Plant said as he opened the window and climbed out to stand on the porch with me.
"I..." okay, here we go. "I don't have much time Plant; I need your help."
"Oh! What's wrong? It isn't your Dad?"
"Oh Maker no. Home is fine. I need a copy of your blueprints."
"A....Pharaoh, why..." he rubbed the bridge of his nose as I armoured down to match him now.
"Plant, I just really need them. Okay? I'll explain everything once all of this is over."
"All over? You aren't in trouble, are you?"
"What? No...well...I promise I'll tell you everything when I can. I just really need your blueprints."
"Why?"
"Plant, please! I can't tell you right now!" I whined as I ran my hands through my hair nervously. "I just need them, can you trust me?"
"I...I do trust you, Pharaoh! I do! It's just...this is kinda important information to me."
"I know, I know this. I know it's a lot to ask too, but I only need your mechanisms blueprints. I don't need any of your coding or anything really important. I just need your like, chest cavity."
"Mmmm....You promise you're not in trouble."
"I'm not in trouble, Plant. Trust me." When did I get so good at lying? How did I just lie to one of my best friends without breaking eye contact.
"....okay, just give me a couple minutes."
"Thank you so much, I promise you won't regret it."
I never wanted to do this again. I hated lying like this. I'm sure Plant would understand though. I'd tell him everything once we were done with Wily and Kalinka was back with us. I leaned on the porch railing and looked up at the stars that were starting to fade. No, Plant would understand, it was Plant! I'd have to make it up to him though...
God, was I really just going to hand Wily Plant's actual blueprints!? Could I really do that to him?
"Here, just..." Plant leaned out his window with a memory stick in hand. "Please Pharaoh. You'd tell me if you were in danger, right?"
"I...I promise I'll explain Plant, please. I can't talk about it right now!" Maker, I was losing my patience. Why couldn't he just trust me!?
"You are in trouble! Aren't you!" Plant pulled the memory stick back to his chest defensively.
"It's not for ME Plant! Give it to me!"
"No! Pharaoh! Tell me!"
God, we were yelling. We were going to wake Astil up.
"Plant, give it to me now. I need to go!" I threatened as I pulled my hair back and tied it up.
"Nu-uh! Pharoah please, I want to help. I really do! I just-!"
I jumped through the window as Plant stumbled back to the door, which fortunately he'd closed behind him. I pinned him down quickly as he wrested to get free. I'd gotten a lot stronger in the last two months though. He was still just a botanist.
"Give it to me!"
"NO!" Plant was screaming as I tried to pry his grip off of the memory stick.
I felt the thorns of his vines scratch into my legs as he struggled to throw me off.
"Pharoah! GET OFF!"
"GIVE IT!"
"NO! YOU'RE HURTING ME PHARAOH!"
"PLANT HE NEEDS IT! JUST STOP FIGHTING ME!"
"WHO! Who needs it!"
"IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" I finally peeled his fingers off of the memory stuck and tried to push myself up. He had a pretty firm grip on my legs woth his vines though. I really didn't want to rip his bines though, I knew they were really delicate.
"Plant? Plant are you okay?" I heard Astil running down the stairs as I reached up and locked Plant's door.
"Let go Plant, I need to go."
"No! Tell me what's wrong!"
"I WILL! Oh Maker, I will I promise. I'm sorry. I just can't tell you right now!"
"Pharaoh!" Plant's grip tightened.
"I know, you're angry. But of you don't let me go right now, I'm...I'm" I'm going to threaten him, oh maker. "I'll burn them Plant."
"No you wouldn't. Just tell me!"
"Plant! I'm serious! Let go!"
"Plant! Open the door Plant!" Astil yelled as the door jiggled.
"Don't! Let me go! Please!" I begged. I didn't want to hurt him. "I'll do it Plant! And it's going to hu-! Ah!" The thorns dig in behind my knees, causeing me to buckle a bit.
I couldn't! I didn't want to! I don't want to actually hurt him!
I grabbed the end of the vine in my blaster hand in singed the end off. Both of the vines immediately retreated back to Plant as he screamed.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry Plant! I'll make it up! I promise!" I quickly made my exit and ran into the jungle.
I caught myself on a tree as I felt the tears rolling down my face.
What had I done! All this for a Wily bot!? What was I doing?! I slumped myself against the tree and slid down to sit on the cool ground. I rubbed my eyes, looking at the memory stick in my opposite hand. I was in over my head now. How was I ever supposed to make this up to Plant? How was I going to tell the others what I did? Maker! How was I going to tell Dad!
Maybe, Dad didn't need to know until after this was over...Astil was going to call now though, and Dad wasn't at home!
I took a couple deep breaths to calm myself down. It was all going to work out...We could tell Dad to lie, we could wire his call to him in the fortress no problem. And, Wood was going to be better than okay now! Hopefully. I just had to go back and give Wily-
I wasn't on the island anymore...
I could go and get help! I could tell them what was going on! We could get Wily and...all of his boys....
All of my friends.
WHY DID I FEEL LIKE THIS! Why wasn't I on my way to Light's place for help right now? What was wrong with me! I could free my family right now! Wood just GAVE ME the teleport co-ordinates to the island...and trusted that I would come back to help him....
"AGGGHHHHH!" I jumped up, pacing briskly.
Do it, teleport to Light's! Get Rock!
"Go! Just go! You can go!" I slammed my fist into the tree. "Go! Teleport! Do it!"

......

To be continued...

Chapter Text

Con't

The teleport signal fizzed to life around me.
Why was I doing this? What had changed?
Two months ago I could have gone without hesitation. My families safety was my highest priority. So what if a couple of Wily bots got in our way now? We could fight! And we'd have Rock to back us up!
...
My feet gently touched down and I reformed in the dark. I felt my way to the edge of the bed and took a seat.
What had I done...
How was I ever supposed to explain any of this to Plant? He was going to hate me for this!
"What's wrong, Pharaoh?"
I looked back at Wood as he sat himself up a bit.
"...Nothing, you get some rest okay? I've just got to talk to Wily." I gently rubbed his leg.
"You were crying..." Wood pointed out as he leaned in and gently touched my cheek.
"H-how..."
"Eye liner, you never seal your make-up. What's wrong."
I rubbed under my eyes in an attempt to clean up the left over smudges as I handed Wood the memory stick.
"You did something bad, didn't you...."
"Kinda. I told him I'd explain when I could though." I signed as Wood struggle to prop his pillows up behind himself. "Here, let me get that."
I got up and helped him get comfortable before I sat down beside him again. He handed back the memory stick carefully as he relaxed back into his chair of pillows.
"Who was it?"
"Mm, Plantman. He's from Brazil. He's a really good friend of mine; we've worked together a bit but his Dad knows Cossack pretty well."
"So, you just asked?"
"...Kinda? I kinda lied...And, I hurt him..."
"You didn't have to do that...not for me." Wood chuckled a bit. "Did you even tell him what was going on?"
"Did you want me to?"
"A part of me did."
"Wh-? Why?! That would put your family in danger! He knows Rock too!"
"But it would get you guys home."
Wood shifted a bit before leaning forward to touch my shoulder.
"I never wanted this to happen to your family. None of us did... You don't deserve this, but...Dad was scared." Wood ran his other hand through his hair as he squeezed my shoulder. "He knows he's getting older, and he has a lot planned still."
"If you didn't want this to happen then why did you do it? You could have faked something? You could have pretended like you couldn't get Kalinka..."
"We DID! We did twice!" Wood huffed. "We didn't get her, Rock's brother Blues did..."
That name sounded, familiar.
"...you didn't-"
"Ask Quick or Magnet if you don't believe me. But please,....I....Go and make it up to Plantman. Please. Thank you, but you shouldn't have hurt your friend." He said as he pulled himself up to his feet. "I'll go give this to Dad, you go and apologize." He leaned down and gave me a quick peck on the forehead before he left.
...
I dropped back down on the Astil's front porch and knocked on the door rapidly. The door swung open violently, and before I could get an apology out Plant's fist connected with my face.
"Hey! Oww!" I reeled back and held my nose as Plant jumped at me, trying to pin me down. He yanked at my hair viciously but I managed to stay on my feet.
"How could you?!?"
"Plant! Get of-ouff!" He kicked me below the belt. "Okay, I deserved that-!"
"You bastard! What nerve you have coming back here!" Plant huffed as he worked his way onto my back. "I'll kill you! How dare you-!"
"Plant! Plant! Hey! Calm down!" Astil yelled as he made his way to the porch.
"I know you're mad! But let me explain! Please!" I begged as he pulled my hair back, forcing me to look up.
"It better be a pretty good explanation." Plant hissed as his vines found their way around my wrists and neck as he jumped off.
"Plant! It's okay. He wouldn't've come back if he didn't have a good reason." Astil tried to calm his son down. "Everything is okay."
"It's! It was really important Plant! I promise! It was for, a friend, of mi-" his vines tightened around my neck. "It was for Woodman! The Wily bot! He sick, and dying! And-"
"YOU GAVE MY BLUEPRINTS TO A WILY BOT!! YOU ABSOLUTE SHIT HEAD!"
"Wait! No! Plant, Wily kidnapped Kalinka 2...3 months ago! We've all-" I gasped as the vines tightened again.
"YOU'RE WORKING FOR WILY!?!"
"No!! Of course-...well-!"
"Plant! Put him down!"
"But he's-!"
"I said put him down, now! He wouldn't have come back to apologize if he really was working for Wily."
Plant's vines reluctantly retreated as Astil quickly pulled me into a hug. He gently rubbed my shoulder as Plant tried to work his way between me and his maker.
"He's! But he's-!"
"He came back, for help." Astil explained as he let me go. "Come inside and explain everything to us."
I was quickly set up with an e-tank and a warm towel to clean up with. I hadn't really gotten to clean properly in ages. I'd hit the shower occasionally, but I'd been busy. I hadn't realized how hungry I was either. But, I ate when Quick and Magnet ate...which rarely happened. We were busy, always busy...I must have looked half starved as I gulped down the e-tank before I could even begin to explain what was happening.
"Okay Pharaoh. From the beginning." Plant sat down across from me and crossed his legs.
"Psh....o-okay." I took a deep breath. "I guess, three months ago Dad got a ransom letter from Wily that he had kidnapped Kalinka and he wanted to make a deal with Dad for him to give the six of us over. So, obviously Dad wouldn't just let him turn us into Wily bots, but he kinda got the shit end of the deal. He agreed to stage an attack with us to give Wily more time to work on his next line of robot masters. Dad's been at the Wily fortress with us building two more bots to stage his attack with. The rest of us have all been weaponized, and we've been training with the Wily bots...Well, more like just hanging around and occasionally getting some pointers. But, they're my friends! All of them are such amazing bots! Even the new line; they absolutely adore Kalinka. When Wily told us that Wood was, dying...I felt really horrible because I wasn't really too nice to him at first. Wily had plans to come and steal your data anyways, and I didn't want you two getting caught up with a Wily bot with orders...It was just your blueprints too! Not your coding! That's not what Wily wanted, but it's what he'd need to fix Wood." I stopped to make sure I had all of the details. Between Astil and Plant though, they both looked pretty shocked.
"I think that's-"
"Pharaoh! Oh you poor boys!" I found myself smuthered in a signature Astil hug as he practically jumped over the coffee table at me.
"What? It's fine, Astil! We'll live!" I tried to laugh but I'm pretty sure he was trying to crush my respirator.
"Thank you for telling us! But, you really should have just said that from the beginning."
"I...I was afraid you wouldn't give it to me." I finally escaped from the hug to find Plant's judgemental glare. "I'm really sorry Plant; I promise I'll find a way to make this up to you."
"Oh, you will." He huffed as he crossed his arms. "I guess you were doing it for your friend. I can admire that. But, a Wily bot?"
"He's amazing Plant, they're all amazing! They've been there for us constantly! I mean...they're like family now. I couldn't just let him die. Wily didn't even tell his brothers, he was just going to let him rot away."
"That's disgusting. His own children and he wouldn't even tell them!" Astil scoffed as he opened another e-tank for me, which I happily scoffed down. "You're half starved, you poor things. I'd be surprised if you weren't sick too, all of you."
"A lot of the Wily bots are sick, or at least not in great condition. They know where there limits are now though. My brothers and I are still doing okay as far as I know. I think the others have started giving us more to get us ready for out fight..." Right, that....
"Are...do you want us to tell Light?" Astil asked quietly as he found his seat again.
"We should! Wily is still holding your entire family hostage!"
"Mmm....no, it's...We'll do what he wants. Just, when it does happen. Will you tell Rock what's happening. I don't want the Wily bot's to get hurt again. I'm not sure some of them would recover from another fight with him. I couldn't be the reason that Rock gets the co-ordinates to the island. I couldn't let them get hurt like that. They're, family."
It was quiet.
I clasped my hands together and gently squeezed them between my legs. This was crazy, I sounded so crazy right now calling the Wily bots family but they really were. I tried to mentally prepare myself for all of the responses that they could spit back at me.
"Okay, we understand, Pharaoh. Will...will you let me look you over though? Just to make sure you're fit enough to actually do this?"
"I guess, I do need to get back though. It's late and-"
"Bah, that's fine! Come!"
I followed Astil up to the lab that overlooked the greenhouse. Plant was right on my heels though; I don't think he fully trusted me again though. It took a long time for him to warm up to me the first few days we worked together though. I just hopped I hadn't lost too much of that trust.
Astil spent the better part of an hour running diagnostics and checking out my new systems. He did notice my new optic glitch, but he didn't think it would be much of a problem; same as Dad.
"So, your Dad's making new bots." Plant asked as he brushed my hair through with some leave in conditioner.
"Yeah, two new ones. I think they're going with Skull and Ring for names last time I heard."
"Are you, worried, about them? What happens to them after this?"
"A lot...I really am. I have no idea what'll happen once this is all done with. Hopefully they'll want to come home with us...I wouldn't blame them if they wanted to stay with Wily, but they'd still be my little brothers."
"I don't think that'll be a problem." Astil piped up. "As long as you're there to help them then they'll love you boys just the same."
"What about, the Wily bots?" Plant asked.
"W-what about 'em?"
"If Wily doesn't take care of them...what does your Dad think of them?"
"He's really come around. He's spent a lot of time with Snake and Flash since they've been helping to build the new bots. I don't know what'll happen after we leave, it'll probably just go back to how it was before. They have a really nice place, even if the living conditions aren't fabulous."
"Do you think any of them would ever leave? If they could?"
"I don't know. It might be rough, but that's just how home is for them. I can see some of them definitely leaving for a while, but I don't think they could ever leave forever. They go out and do things now, but they always come back home."
Dad would probably take some of them in, if they ever wanted to leave. Secretly, of course. But he obviously wants to see them live a full life, just like us. They're all still so young, I still can't believe Wily told them not to expect to life past five. They could all decide to do so much too.
I think I'd be okay with them, if they ever did need the help. It's not like they'd ever do anything to hurt us on purpose. If they needed a place to stay then the doors would be open.
Astil finished up shortly after and let me down another e-tank.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Astil asked one last time as he gave me a lighter squeeze good-bye.
"We're all fine. I'll see you soon." I paused as Plant slowly worked his way in for a hug too. "I'm really sorry, again. I should have just told you what was going on." I pulled him in as he pressed his forehead to my chest.
"Just, don't do it again. Be safe, okay? I can't have the only good trap disabler getting put out of commission." He tried to joke.
"I won't, Rock knows us. He'll know something's up." I gave him a smooch on the forehead as he looked up to me. "It'll be over soon, please don't tell Rock I was here until it actually happens though. The Wily bots need time to run if he does he does figure out what's going on before we can distract him for long enough."
"We won't. Tell Cossack to call when he can. We'll come and help after." Astil offered as I let Plant go.
"That'd be a huge help. Thank you."
A couple more waves goodbye and I was off. I landed back in Wood's room to find it empty. I guess Wily didn't want to waste any time with the upgrades.
The clock on his desk said 1:21 am; I didn't think I was gone for that long...Oh well. I felt a little bit better anyways now that this was all sorted out. Dad didn't even have to know until after all of this was done. Maybe I'd tell him anyways, probably not the part where I actually hurt Plant, but the ending was nice. At least he'd know that someone else knows what's going on now. I wonder if he's still up working on the new bots; it wouldn't hurt to check.
I found my way throught the livingroom quietly. Someone was awake though, because the back porch light was on. I tried to casually sneak a peak as I walk through.
Dust and Needle, naturally. I swear the two of them were nocturnal now. I wonder if they've banged yet. Ew no! Bad though! No! Don't want to picture that! I mean, Dust definitely isn't a bottom, so I don't know how that would go exactly, but...
I wonder what'll happen once we're gone. Huh. That was a thought that I wasn't really prepared for. What if they did end up dating? We were all surprised that they still weren't to be honest. Obviously no one had a problem with the two of them being together, and honestly it'd probably be great for both of them. Would they do like, an every other weekend thing? Spend one weekend here and one weekend back in Russia? Needle could probably sneak into Dust's little work house too, it's not like there were ever any humans at the recycling plant anyways. As long as the work got done then the two of them would have free run of the place. Dust would never just pack up and leave us though, and Needle probably wouldn't want to leave his family either. I guess that was a possibility now though. We'd all had our programming re-written with some extra bits of free will. Dust could very much just decide he wants to be with Needle and leave. I don't know how I'd feel about that.
I pushed open the lab doors and did a quick look around for Dad. The lights were on, but I guess he must have just stepped out for a while. Or he just forgot to turn them off before he went to bed; he always did that back home. He wasn't here though, so I guess the story was going to have to wait until morning. Maybe then he could look at the scratches I was sporting too...hmmm, maybe not. Maybe I could ask Snake to look at them first. He wouldn't tell Dad that I'd actually fought with Plant. If Dad saw the scratches then he'd know something had happened between Plant and I.
I sat myself up on one of the workbenches and gently twined my fingers into my new little brothers hand. Ring really did turn out nice, he looked like the others pretty much. Skull's alt form was coming along nicely, but it was clearly Wily that was doing the most work on him. His skin tone almost matched mine, but his hair was stark white to match his armour. Dad would probably fix it into a strawberry blonde colour though. Skull was different though, and I kinda liked that. He didn't really have the soft cheeks like the rest of us did, he did look a bit more like the Wily family to be honest. A bit sharper features, but I could already tell that he was going to look timed all the time. Even now he kinda looked fed up with some unknown annoyance. He did look really good though. It was kind of refreshing to not be the odd one out in the family anymore.
I gently pressed the palm of his hand to watch his fingers curl in. I hadn't really even been around when my brothers were brand new. I lived so far away that I usually only got to meet them when they were already a couple weeks old and mostly socialized. This was going to be kinda new for me.
"Wily finished him up today. What do you think?"
I whipped around to find Bright holding a steaming cup of something as he got up on one of the office chairs. He rolled up beside be and plopped his drink down before he ran his hand through Skull's hair.
"I really do like how he turned out. Is Dad going to recolour his hair though? I know he usually goes for the blonde look." I joked as I leaned over and rustled his hair.
"It's growing on him. I think he likes the white honestly. I'm sure you're happy with it too."
"I mean, absolutely." Bright snorted as he wiggled his way up beside me. "Is Dad around? Did he head off to bed?"
"Yeah, he called it a night. I think he wants to try and turn them on tomorrow."
"They'd done?"
"Well, not completely. But close enough. The rest we can do on the go. I'm excited to finally see what they turn out like."
"Won't they turn out like how you coded them?" I asked, but the look Bright sent back at me said everything. "Okay, you know I'm no good with the lab stuff."
"There are some things that we can assume about their personalities off the bat, but they develop more based on how they're raised. Or, I guess how they're introduced to living and working and such." Bright matter-o-factly corrected me. "It's probably easier to look at the fifth line and how they turned out being around Kalinka so much. They all pretty much take after her."
"You know, that does make sense." Bright smacked my leg as he detected my hints of sarcasm.
"I'm going to bed, I've had a long night." He said as he slid off the bench and grabbed his cup. "Just, turn the lights off when you leave, okay?"
"Yep, good night Bright."
"Night. Oh, and Top was looking for you earlier too? I don't know what about though. Something scandalous I assume."
"What! No! I haven't done anything scandalous ever."
"Pfft, okay. Well, you know where to find him. Maybe talk to Magnet first just to get the story straight again."
"I didn't kiss him Bright."
"Sure, either way. Top didn't seem as mad this time, so you're probably safe."
Lord, now I had to go and talk to Top too? Maybe that could wait until the morning, or tomorrow evening. Yeah, that sounded better. 'I was busy, sorry! Bright just told me!'
Why was I getting to good at lying! This whole place was just a den of lies!
Bright was gone by the time I had figured out my next witty comeback, but maybe some sleep was a good idea. I slid off of the bench and leaned back in to give Skull a smooch on the forehead. I rubbed Ring's bangs back too and gave him a peck too before leaving. Sleep sounded just heavenly right now. I definitly needed it after today.

Chapter Text

"So...what do you think your Dad'll say?" Needle asked as he leaned on the railing beside me.
"I don't know, we've never really talked about this kinda stuff." I puffed as I shrugged his jacket around my shoulders tighter. It was starting to get really cold in the evenings out here. "What did your Dad say?"
"I don't think he really cares honestly. I mean, he does say they're a waste of money but he still likes them."
I patted my bandaged up hip a bit before pulling up the gauze to try and peak in the new addition. I don't think Dad would mind. It was my body anyways, I could do what I wanted with it.
"I think you look really good." Needle blushed as I looked up at him. "The tattoo I mean! I think your tattoo came out really good!"

...

*Yeah, nice save genius* I mentally smacked myself for the slip up.
"You think so?"
"Yeah, I really like it. I...I think it's perfect."
He'd wanted something simple, and something that would hit close to home. Cossack had a lab symbol, like Dad and Light did so we'd jazzed it up a bit. I think he chose the soft pastel colours for a reason though. I just didn't want to tell myself that the colours of his tattoo were the colours of all my soft blue and pink things in my room. That couldn't be true... it was just a coincidence.
"I just hope Dad doesn't flip. How did you show Wily yours?"
"Well, I dunno. I had my shirt off swimming probably and he asked about them. Showing Magnet was worse though. He likes them now, but he really wasn't sure about them to begin with." I vividly remember the right hook to the chest as I tried to explain to him that I really liked the artists work. I guess I should have started with the fact that I'd used my own private funds and not the limited amount of money we had collectively.
"I really like them." Dust blushed as I tried not to make eye contact. "They look really good on you...But I have to ask, why on your back? Where you can't see them?"
"Oh...I don't know really? I just like how they look back there? Everyone else sees them."
"But aren't they for you?"
"They are, but they're really for my brothers. It reminds me of them."
"That's really sweet, Needle."
Would I mention that I had thought about getting one for him on my arm? Hell no! Maybe one day I'd actually do it, but not while Dust was still here.
It's for when he's gone, and everything goes back to how it used to be...
"Dust, do you ever think about what's going to happen after all of this is over? After you've fought Megaman?" I practically wheezed out as I tried to prepare myself for the answer.

...

*Oh yeah! When I don't get to see you everyday anymore! And I get to be alone all the time again!*
"Yeah...I've thought about it a bit." I tried to downplay. "It...I'm worried."
"Y-you are?" Needle practically lept.
"I am. I don't want to lose you..." Oh maker, that was sappy. End me now! "I mean, you're like the bestest friend I've ever had!" Okay, kinda saved it.
"I could say the same for you."
I smiled as I leaned in closer to Needle pressing my head against his shoulder playfully. That always made him blush. God he was so cute when he blushed.
"I don't want to stop seeing you just because I have to leave. I know we can text, but it's not the same." I said as I tilted myself back up. "I want to, you know..."

...

*be with you...*
"Yeah, it's not the same..." I agreed as his shoulder pressed against mine.
"I mean...you could always come and visit? I'm always alone at the factory..." Dust sighed a bit. "But I don't want to bother you always having to come and see me."
*I'd go see you every single day! And I'd love every second of it!*
"I don't mind, really! It's not like I have anything else to do." You know, besides sit around and wait for you every day after practice.
"But I feel bad! You going to all that trouble just to see me!" Dust huffed. "I'm not that special..."
"You are to me-"
Oh
Oh no
That just came out,
Like out loud...

...

*PARDON*
"I...I am?"
Don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry!

...

*WELP YOU JUST WALKED OFF THE DEEP END, YOU BETTER GET OKAY WITH THIS REAL QUICK!*
"I-Yeah! Of course you are!"
WAS IT HOT? Was it like, EXTRA HOT out here tonight?! Like, damn hot! 'Cause if I could sweat!
"I...you know, I-I really like you, Dust."

...

*OHYES! Oh yes it's happening!*
"W-...I, really like you too, Needle." I tried to give a warm smile as my core tried to rip itself out of my chest.
This was it, was I really doing this? How did I think that this was going to work out between the two of us?! I did really, REALLY, like Needle...but what about our families, and this fight, and what would happen after?
God, the poor guy was practically shaking with stress. If he'd had this bottled up for this long I could only imagine what he must be feeling now. He looked like he was going to start crying.

...

*HE...he...*
"You...you like me?" I tried my hardest not to stutter out my nervous words.
"I really do..like yeah, like a lot." Dust's smile only grew as we stood facing each other now. "Did you think that...that I didn't like you?"
"What? Well, pfft no...Not really like though. That's like a whole other level of, liking." I could feel my entire system just buzzing with nerves. I was no doubt beet red by now too. "I-I know you liked me as a friend, but not anything more...you know...like, romantically..."
"You're so cute when you're flustered."
*I! I'm cute!?*
Dust closed the gap between us pretty quickly as he put his hands up to cup my face. I was caught off guard by the sudden display of affection that I usually only got from my brothers.
"I think that I really like you, Needle." Dust said as one of his hands traced down to hold my shoulder. "But, I'm scared of what'll happen after this mess is over..." he admitted as I leaned in to him.
I found myself gently touching my forehead to his, and waiting for him to give a light nudge back in reassurance. I don't think I've ever been this close...unless I was going to count having him on my shoulders...which I wasn't. Really forehead bumps were reserved for my line, but they were something I was willing to share with Dust too. It just felt right, now. Dust eventually gave a nudge back as he sighed. I could feel his warm breath on my neck as he looked up into the nudge. I would have picked him up, but I wasn't sure if I was ready for that yet.
"I...I want you to know that no matter what happens between now and then, I'll always be there for you when you need me. I don't care what happens, I just want you to be safe, and happy." I tried to comfort, but I felt like I was just making things more difficult. Maybe he really didn't want to be anything more than friends with me.
"That's all I want for you too. I just want you to keep loving life like you are!" Dust almost whined. "I don't want you to stop doing everything that you love doing because you're trying to be with me."
"I....well I wouldn't stop doing any of that stuff. There's a reason I want you to come with me now when I go out to the city. I want you to go with me to do things! I want to just, live life! With you!" Hell, we went and got tattoo's today. Did he really think that I would try and put my life on hold like that? I wanted to have adventures with him!
"But when this is over Dad's going to just send me back to work! I...I don't have time..." I could feel him starting to tense up again. "I don't want to waste my life there, Needle! I really don't!"
"I thought you loved your job?"
"But I love being with you now!"
Oh! Oh...
Dust was really letting the water works fly now. Beyond my better judgement I pulled him into a tight hug. He flung his arms around my shoulders as I picked him up and sat him up on the railing so he was more my hight. I didn't want him to quit his job, I know he loved it. He hated being alone though...I know I wouldn't be happy just watching him work though, even if I could be there with him. How were we going to work this out...
"Maybe...maybe we should sleep on it. Have some time to think." I suggested as I leaned back and wiped my thumbs along his cheeks.

....

I was going to need an extra long nap to think about all this. Needle was right though, sitting here with him just made me want to be with him more. My better judgement was still saying that it could work, but something still nagged that it wouldn't.
I mean, I wouldn't want to be with him all the time if we were together. Work took up a lot of my time though, and any free time I had was usually spent at home or sleeping. Or a mixture of both...
"Yeah, maybe that's for the best." I tried to avoid eye contact with Needle, but I pretty much had my legs vice locked around his hips as he stood against me on the railing.
Oh, damn...
Nope, no! Not those thought!
I released my lock on him as he politely backed up to let me hop off the railing. He was still beet red, but he was at least trying to calm himself down. He was doing the squeezy thing with his hands. God, how many times a day did I make him flustered that I actually noticed that...Apparently a lot.
"G...Goodnight, Needle."
"Goodnight, Dust. I-I'm just going to stay up a bit longer."
"No problem big guy. Just get some rest." I patted his shoulder before I made my way back inside.
This felt, weird...like really weird, and wiggly, and uncomfortable. I didn't like this.
"Hey, are you two okay?"
I whipped around looking for the sudden voice. Snake was lying on the couch in the dark. If he hadn't've said anything then I wouldn't have even seen him.
"Did...did you hear all that?" I sighed as I joined him on the couch.
"Ssssssorry, good hearing." He apologized as he sat up to let me sit beside him. "Are you two going to be okay though?"
"I, don't know. Honestly." I admitted. "It's kinda hard to explain."
"Don't worry. You don't have to explain it to me." Snake said as he re-arranged himself to curl around me and sap my body heat. "I think you two will work it out."
"Yeah?"
"Of course, you both know what you want." Snake said as I gently put my hand on the top of his helmet and leaned into him. "I trust that you'd be good to my baby brother. He's been wanting to talk about it for a while."
"...a while?"
"Let's just say we had to have the birds and bees talk with him. He's a lot younger than you; we all are." Snake huffed a bit as I settled into him, knowing better by now than to try and escape. "But, he's fallen for you pretty hard. I know you'll look out for him though, and he'll do the same for you."
"Thanks, Snake."
"You needed to hear it. Don't let me get into your conscience though. I know you have a lot to think about." He sighed as I lied down against him.
Yeah, there was a lot to think over.

......................................................................

Dust was out cold in another couple of minutes. The two of them had already been training all day, but I guess they didn't usually go to bed until later. Usually the two of them were the last to turn in. Well, except for myself usually.
I carefully scooped Dust up and brought him back to his room quietly. The rest of the lights were off in his lines hall, so I guess Cossack had turned in for the night too. A part of me wanted to take a peak in at the new bots, but I did feel the need to tell Magnet about the recent developments. I turned back to head to Magnet's room instead.
Not before flattening myself down behind the counter in the kitchen when Needle decided to head to bed. Luckily he didn't spot me, but he looked all kinds of beat up. I just wanted to give my little brother a squeeze, but I knew that he liked to be alone to think. Maybe another night I'd get to sneak into bed with him and leech his heat.
I waited until Needle was back in his room to make my way down to Magnet's room. Top was out on patrol for the evening and wouldn't be back until morning, so at least I didn't have to worry about walking in on the two of them.
I let myself into his room silently and locked the door behind myself. I knocked after I was in to see if Magnet would actually move. Which, he did. Very quickly, actually. He nearly knocked over the lamp on the desk trying to get it on, but the embarrassment on his face said it all.
"Am I interrupting?" I mused as he pulled the sheets tightly between his legs.
"SNAKE!" He clenched out as quietly as he could, trying to hold back his anger.
"I mean really? He's only been gone for like, 5 hours?"
"What is it, Snake." Magnet spat back.
"So this is a bad time. Oo, I guess you don't want to know about what Needle and Dust are doing then. Okay, well I'll let you get on with it." I waved my hand as I pretended to make for the door.
"Hold! Hold on wait! Just...fuck!"
"I don't mind." I rolled my eyes as he glared at me. "Needle and Dust were talking about getting together."
"Dating?"
"Yes, dating." I nodded as Magnet grabbed for the pair of pj shorts at the end of the bed. I quickly snatched them as he swiped at me. "They just weren't sure about what's going to happen once Dust leaves and has to go back to work." I said as I sat down at the foot of the bed.
"Snake, I swear. This is serious, give me those."
"I said I didn't mind. You should see what I've walked in on Gemini doing. That's a show." I mean, I definitely didn't mind that.
"Pffff...can we talk about this in the morning? With Needle maybe? I don't want to gossip behind his back."
"Mmh? I suppose." I teased as I chucked his pants back at him as I got up. "Hope I didn't kill the mood."
"Quit...stop it Snake. You wouldn't be happy either." He did have a point. Then again I always remembered to lock my room door.
"Okay, talk to you tomorrow."
I politely showed myself out, but I heard Magnet slump heavily into the mattress as I closed the door. I didn't think I was that much of a mood killer. I guess if everyone was in bed though then I had the rest of the castle to myself. Well, save for one. Shadow just, didn't really sleep I guess? Then again he had been absent for the last couple days. Maybe I'd take a swing around to look for him, but I doubt he'd be easy to find. If I needed him then I could always find him, but if I ever just wanted to chat then he was nowhere to be found. I bet it had everything to do with that reject Light bot that he'd been tracking. Then again I can't be one to judge who he grows fond of.
Ever since Wily had him go to get Kalinka, Shadow had done everything in his power to get away from the castle to track the bot down. Of course Shadow was more than capable of taking care of himself, but I still worried about him getting involved with that rogue.
Flash was out tonight too, no doubt with his new squeeze. I guess I wasn't too mad at him, more jealous than mad. That's just not something I wanted though. I just wanted work things to go back to normal between us. Teaching Crystal by myself was a nightmare; he was almost as bad as Gemini.
Maker...I missed Flash something awful. Not even in the relationship way, but just in the everyday conversations. I guess that's kinda what I was in it for in the first place. It just got, lonely. I was always lonely. Honestly I was kind of glad Wily had started teaching me about all the technical stuff. At least it gave me something to keep myself busy with now. Also gave the others more reasons to talk to me. Getting to know Flash was good though. I'd never really talked to the first gens before I started having lessons with Flash. I honestly hardly talked to my brothers. I think Wily was just starting to think how totally pathetic I was getting and decide to try and put me to some use.
I found myself back in my room where I honestly hadn't spent a whole lot of time in. Between jumping warm spots and being in the lab I couldn't find the time to just relax anymore. Maybe I could curl up around my heater for a while and nobody would bother me. Granted Magnet would probably show up in the morning, but...
I quickly plugged in the space heater and pulled the thick blankets off of my bed. It was a shame the cord for the heater didn't reach close enough to the bed, otherwise I wouldn't have to curl up on the floor like an animal. Maybe I was overdue for a trip to the city; I could really use an extension cord right about now. Then again, as long as I had my little space heater I could sleep just about anywhere.
Just as I closed my eyes though of course someone was knocking at my door. I sighed as I watched it creak open.
"Snake?"
Hmm, this was new. Pharaoh wasn't usually one to visit so late. God he looked exhausted.
"Oh...sorry. I didn't know you were...uh.." he waved his hands a bit. "Do you think you'd be able to help me with something?"

........

"And, that's pretty much what's been happening..." Pharaoh sighed as he rested his head against his arms, finally giving up trying to look back at me.
"That's, bad. I had no idea about Wood..."
"I don't think anybody did."
I pullled the last of the wires into place in his knee pit before lifting the magnifying goggle away. Pharaoh tensed a bit, but that was good; meant it was working.
"Thank you too, I don't know if I could've explained to Dad about...that."
"It's fine. Happens more than you'd think."
I guess Pharaoh was okay. I mean, he was definitely turning out to be a fine line leader. He was getting pretty, wily though.
"So, you aren't going to tell Cossack about your injuries?"
"Well no, he doesn't need to know every detail. Just that I got what needed to happen done."
"Mmm, okay. Our secret then."
"Are...are you okay though?" He asked quietly. I was shocked.
"Me? Why do you ask?"
"Well, I just saw you on the floor wrapped around a heater. I feel like there should be some concern there?" I pinged one of his wires before I rolled the cuffs of his pants down over the still exposed patch job.
"It's cold and the cord is too short to reach the bed."
"It's like, 76 in here!"
"Okay, but that's not warm enough for me. Especially at night."
Pharaoh sat up and pulled his knees up to his chest as I turned around to put my tools away.
"Fair enough."
I scoffed a bit as I organized my bits back out. Unlike Wily's mess I always knew where my stuff was. Even if I only had bits and parts set up in my lines spare room, it was still functional. Like, my own little lab kinda.
"Well, if you're done here then I suggest getting some sleep. You've had a long day." I clipped the toolbox closed as I turned back to face my newest patient. He was already scooting down off of the table though, clearly ready for some sleep.
"Do you, would you like to sleep with me for the night?"
That almost deserved a double take.
"What?"
"You said you were cold. Dust said you like to cuddle anyways." Pharaoh shrugged casually, as if he was asking if I wanted fucking frosting on a cupcake.
"Okay first off, I don't cuddle." I cleared up. "Second, why are you suddenly so concerned over me? Huh?"
"I'm not worried about you. I know you'd get help if you needed it. But I am like a little space heater now with the new weapon. I might as well put it to use..."
Was he trying to be like, nice? To me?
"...this way."
Pharaoh followed me back to my room quietly. Surely he hadn't ment anything...intense. Just sleeping. I cracked the door to my room with a couple of second guesses.
"You do just mean sleep?"
"What?"
"When you ask someone to sleep with you it usually means...you know."
"No! Oh maker no, I! Is that what I sounded like?"
"Well no, but I figured it would just be safer to ask."
No, I wasn't going to blush infront of Pharaoh! It was bad enough that he was worried about me. I was only lying on the floor, I did that all the time.
Pharaoh happily climbed into bed and floofed the blankets up to invite me in. I tried to avoid eye contact as I curled in beside him. He wasn't wrong though, he was practically as warm as my space heater. Okay, maybe I was pretty cuddly.
I pressed my face to his chest as he lied down and let me in closer.
"Are you comfortable?" Pharaoh asked as he tucked the blanket around me.
"Are you?"
"Um, yeah. I'm good."
"Good."
This was okay, I guess. It wasn't as good as Flash, but it would work.
"Thanks." I mumbled into Pharaoh's chest,
"No problem. Get some sleep."
Damn, I was smiling now. Okay, this was good.

Chapter Text

Well, Dad had taken the news pretty well. He asked a lot about what exactly I told Astil, and why I'd even gone in the first place. There were some excused I'd made up on the spot, but I don't think he'd caught on. He did seem a bit happier though; maybe relieved was a better way to put it. At least someone knew what was happening, and I trusted Astil to let Light know as soon as possible. Damn, I was really going to have to make it up to Plant and Astil. They were really saving our asses. Maybe I'd sneak another couple visits in; I loved working with the two of them anyways. Plant definitly wasn't going to be too thrilled with me for the next little while, but I'd make sure everything got better.
The line meeting was awfully quiet this morning though. Snake had told me not to expect Needle and Dust to show, which admittedly had me a bit nervous. But we were missing a couple of brothers from the meeting. Quick had taken Top, Air, and Gemini out on patrol with him last night and they still weren't back. I assume 'patrol' was just taking a bit longer than expected. Shadow was gone too, which was surprising. He was usually pretty diligent with meeting times, even if he never looked interested in what was happening. Magnet and I had done our little song and dance of planning for the week to the present crowd, but we called the meeting off earlier than usual. Hopefully now I could see if Magnet knew anything about what Top had wanted from me last night.
"So, you spent the night with Snake." Magnet eyed me up as he found his typical seat on the deck.
"Wh-? How did you know?"
"I do my walk around to all my brothers rooms pretty early. Just to see who all made it to bed. I have to say I was pretty surprised to find you with Snake." Magnet mused as I put up the patio umbrella between us.
"Okay, it wasn't anything...sexual. If that's what you're thinking." I huffed as I sat down beside him. "He was lying on the floor beside his space heater when I went to see him earlier so I asked if he wanted me to sleep with him. You know, to like, keep him warm."
"You're blushing." He teased as I did my best to smack him away.
"Okay yes! I am blushing! I don't usually sleep with others."
"Not even your brothers?"
"Mmm, sometimes when Kalinka has nightmares. She says I'm very fighty when I sleep though."
"Ah, I see. Don't worry, I've given Top a couple of elbows to the face before too." He teased playfully.
"Ha...Actually. Apparently Top wanted to talk to me last night, but I missed him before he left. Do you have any idea what they would have been about?"
"Hmm? No, not really. He hadn't mentioned anything to me before they all left. Maybe he wanted to apologize?"
"Really? Top, apologize?"
"Okay, unlikely as that is he's still got a heart of gold. And he's my boyfriend, I have to give him the benefit of the doubt." Magnet slugged me back playfully. "I really don't know though. He hadn't really said anything about you other than how well you've been doing in practice."
"Really? He thinks I'm doing good?"
"He's really seen how much you've improved." Magnet nodded "He's quite impressed actually. You're turning into a fine line leader."
Wow, that was a compliment I didn't know I needed. I guess is was reassuring to know all of my training was paying off.
I turned around as I heard the patio door slide open behind us. I guess I was expecting to see Quick back, so I was surprised to see Metal joining us.
"Hey Metal. How was your night?" Magnet asked as Metal pulled up a chair in Quick's usual spot.
"Stressful, but good. Quick's been letting me know how progress is going."
"Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, they just got hung up for a while where they shouldn't've been...I'm sure Magnet has told you-"
"Ahem!" Magnet interupted as Metal abruptly stopped.
"You didn't tell him?" Metal eyed up Magnet as he looked pretty guilty.
"Tell me what?"
"We've been setting up your stations to get ready for your fight. They went out to work on getting yours ready last night."
"Oh..."
"It's fine. There were no humans there right? Just some bots."
"Yeah, and those bots were not to happy with the modifications." Metal waved his hand a bit. "Either way, they were almost done. Quick called Hard over to help with some of the heavy lifting and then they'll be on their way back."
"At least they're okay." I puffed. I was expecting something worse with the way Metal was acting it up.
"Yeah, those lesser bots fall into line pretty easily."
"Well, thanks for the update Metal." Magnet nodded as he relaxed back into his chair.
"I've been meaning to ask too, Pharaoh. Have you given any more thought into your second in command?" Metal asked as he lounged back.
"I...not really."
"That's okay. I just figured I'd ask. Cossack's been getting pretty close to finishing up your new brothers."
"Yeah, Bright said Dad wanted to try and turn them on today. Probably just for a trial run."
"That's got to be exciting!" Magnet smiled. "What do you think of them?"
"They both turned out really well, I'm kinda excited to have new brothers now too." I admitted as the two of them beamed at me.
"Awww! Pharaoh's excited to be a big brother again!"
"Of course I am!"
"Have you thought about maybe grooming up one of them to be your second?" Metal asked.
"I bit...okay, a lot. I don't think the others have the right mindset for it."
"It's a lot of work... I'd be glad to run both of them through some training, if you'd let me. Well, if you're Dad would be okay with me stepping in so early with training." Metal offered.
"It is really one of those lessons that need to be started early." Magnet threw in too. I guess he would know better too.
"I'd have to ask Dad about that. He's still pretty solid about keeping them pretty family oriented. I don't know how he'd feel about dumping them into training right away."
"Mmm, yeah. Cossack probably won't buy that. You can always ask though?"
"Pfft, yeah no. He'd take me apart to see if something was wrong with my coding." That at least got a laugh out of the two of them. "We'll see though. Maybe he'll want them to start training as soon as possible? Who knows?"
"This IS Cossack we're talking about right?" Metal laughed.
"Okay yeah, true. I might just bring it up."
"Well, if he does go for it then let me know. I'm sure we can shape one of them up for it." Metal reassured. "So what else is on the leader plan for today? I know Wily wanted to talk to your two and Quick when he got back."
"He did?"
"Yeah, I made him breakfast this morning. He said you did something really good last night." Metal shrugged.
God, he really had no idea about Wood.
"I...well, I did something last night. I wouldn't call it good..."
"...you, did Wily ask you to do something?" Magnet instantly sat forward and grabbed my arm supportively.
"No, no he didn't ask me to do it. It was the right thing to do. I'm sure Quick will tell you're line what happened after we talk to Wily." I sighed.
"Hey, P. Thank you, whatever it was. But don't beat yourself up over it. If Wily brought it up to you then he definitely made you do something shitty, and I'm sorry you had to do it for us." Metal apologized blindly.
Fuck, I was going to start crying. I ran my hand under my eye lightly to stop the waterworks, but they could both tell they were coming.
"It's okay, I'm just happy I could help." I was quickly sandwiched between the two of them in a bear hug.
I was going to miss them...all of them. How was I going to live pretending they're the bad guys still? They're my brothers! They're family! I pulled both of them in tightly as they pressed their foreheads to mine. A gesture that I was starting to pick up from them too. I closed my eyes and just listen to their gentle breath. I was going to get the biggest hugs later from everyone.
The rest of the day went bye pretty quietly. Quick and the other finally got back around 4 o'clock, and they all just looked like they wanted to go to bed. I almost regretfully dragged Quick to Wily's lab with us. Wily was about to rock his world.
Wood was in a couple of pieces when we finally found Wily in the maze of the lab, which sent the other two into a frenzy. Thankfully Wily explained in the bare minimum of what had happened to the two of them while he continued working.
"P, thank you. Thank you so much." Quick practically collapsed into my arms. "I! I had no idea that he was even sick!"
"Well-"
"I should have told you boys, I'm sorry." Wily cut me off. "I was wrong, I should have said something. But Pharaoh, I can't thank you enough. Wood told me you went back to make things right. I'm so sorry you felt obligated to do this for him."
"W-? I wasn't going to let him die, Wily." I stopped myself to really think. "I didn't want Plant and Astil stuck between defending themselves and one of these two with orders. They're good people."
"They are indeed." Wily nodded as I found a seat.
Was it weird that I was more comfortable being around Wily now? I should still be pretty terrified of the madman, but he wouldn't do anything to hurt us anymore. I kinda trusted him now to be honest.
"Bright said last night that they were almost done with the two new ones. Did you know if they wanted to turn them on today?" I asked as Wily put a toolbox on my lap to pick from.
"I did. He's very excited for them. They're the first new ones since Isabelle past, correct?"
"Ah, yes. They are." Mmm, did I want to get into this with Wily
"Sorry, touchy subject."
"Mmm,"
"I'm sorry. I'm sure you miss her very much." Quit fishing for a response. I take it back, Wily still kinda put me off my game.
"Dad why didn't we have a Mom too?" Magnet asked, probably not prepared for the wrench that came hurtling at him.
"I don't have time for that romancing! I have work! And a vision! A woman would only get in my way. The same that Light did." Wily complained as he grabbed another wrench from the box on my lap.
"He's just saying that because he's bad with the ladies." Quick teased as the second wrench flew past me.
"That's it! You three! Out!"
We were all quickly shuffled out of the lab with a couple of chuckles.
"Well...I should probably go and tell the others the news." Quick sighed out a bit. "Thank you again, Pharaoh. I'm sorry you had to do this for us."
"Why are you all apologizing? I did it because he's my friend. I wasn't going to just do nothing." I huffed a bit as Quick gave me another squeeze.
"But you didn't have to...I'll catch up with you again later." And with that he took off.
"I guess that means Top is back too." Magnet said, sounding a bit excited.
"You miss him that much?" I teased as he turned a bit redder.
"Well, that means you can ask him what he wants. Come on, he's probably in my room." Magnet lead the way back to the third lines hall.
Great, now I wasn't feeling so good again. I really hoped Top wasn't still mad at me. If Magnet hadn't heard him complaining then that couldn't be the reason though.
Sure enough, Top was sat on the bed with a magazine open. He honestly looked kind of excited though as he tucked away the magazine and rolled off the bed. I expected him to give Magnet a hug, and so did Magnet judging by his outstretched arms, so when he grabbed my hand and practically dragged me out of the room behind him I was kind of surprised.
"We'll be back! I have to talk to Pharaoh." Top called back as Magnet held onto the door frame looking a bit disappointed.
"O-okay love."
Top pretty quickly dragged me back to my room and closed the door behind him. He looked absolutely giddy as he took a seat on my mess of a bed.
"Bright said you wanted to talk last night?" I asked delicately as I took a seat beside him.
"Mmmhhmm! Yeah, I did. But, he said you must have been out because he hadn't seen you in a while." Top said as he got unfamiliarly close.
"Uhh...what about? Of you don't mind me asking?" This was still Top, I had to be polite.
"Oh, well...um." He looked a bit blushy, but he'd obviously made up his mind. "Well, I couldn't help but notice when I was looking through your records that your and Magnet's anniversaries are the day after each others."
"Anniversaries?"
"Of when you were built? Like your birthday? His is this saturday, and yours is on sunday this weekend."
"Oh!" Jeez the time had really flown by, I was going to be six this year...we'd been here for three months. "I didn't know that...are you going to do something special for Magnet?" I guess he'd be turning two this year. Wow, it had never really sunken in how much older I was than the Wily bots. I guess that would mean the rest of the third line would be turning two soon too.
"Well, our line usually does something as a family for all of our birthdays? Since we were all activated around the same time. We just use Magnet's as a middle point and do everything on his day." He explained. "I was wondering if maybe you'd want to come and celebrate with us? I just wasn't sure what you usually did on your birthday. I figured your family would all celebrate though."
"Oh, we don't usually do much for our anniversaries." I admitted as Top scooted even closer. "We're usually busy at work...and it's not that important..."
"What! Of course it's important! You're a whole year older!" Top nearly shouted directly into my face as he closed the distance. "Well...I guess for you that isn't such a big deal...but for us it is! We make a whole day out of it! We go to the city, and we eat human food 'til we're sick! And we go to the robotics district, and we watch the 'bot fights at the docks! Okay, the docks thing is illegal, but whatever. Then we come back here to the beach house and party! And it's really great! And....and I thing Maggie would really love it of you'd join us for the day? Well, all of your brothers really. Hell, we should all go out! It's be a nice kinda, fair well, after all of this." He stopped to catch a breath.
"That sounds...pretty fun actually." I never really got to do anything special for my anniversary. "I'll see if my brothers want to come along too. I'm sure Dust and Drill would love the adventure. Dive would probably tag along too if the first line is coming."
"PHARAOH!!!" Top squealed as he wrapped his arms over my shoulders, pushing me back against the bed. "OH! This is going to be so fun!!" Oh! Oh I didn't know we'd be hugging! And now he was, close! Very close! "I have something very special planned, and, if you're up for it too I think you'd really like it." He breathed into my neck as he cozied up.
"I! I-uh...." Top's one hand migrated down to my hip before hooking under my thigh. "Nope! Whoa! Okay!" I pushed myself up, jostling Top back. "The goods! Don't touch!" I stood up and armoured up to prevent anymore unwanted squeezes. "Are you kidding me?"
"What?"
"You're trying to make moves on me?! After you had that fit about Magnet cheating on you?!"
"I'm not making moves on you bandages. I was trying to get you interested." Top huffed. "When Maggie said you were a virgin I thought he was joking."
"Oh Maker, get out. You need to get out now." I tried to push him out, but he remained firmly planted at the end of my bed.
"Okay wait wait, just hear me out then, okay?"
"No? Get out of my room Top!"
"Just listen! I...well, more Magnet...he wants to-"
"Don't say it." I scolded.
"Mmmm....Pharaoh, IwanttopampermagnetforhisbirthdayandoursexlifeissoboringandthemagazinessaythreesomesareagoodwaytospicethingsupandIwantedtoknowifyou would....you know...."
That took me...a moment to process.
"...if I'd be interested. In having a threesome with you...really? That was your plan?!"
"WELLITSNOTLIKEIVEEVERASKEDBEFORE!" Top spat back. "This was dumb, I'm sorry. I just, Maggie likes you so I figured I'd ask."
"Magnet doesn't like me, like that, though." I defended quickly.
"Pfft, of yeah? Try me. Like I don't hear about how awesome and great you are all the time from him. I mean...I think you're pretty cool too, but you make Maggie happy; which makes me happy."
I was, flattered? I guess? I wasn't really sure what I was feeling right now.
"You should have asked first."
"I know, I'm sorry. I got carried away." Top tried to avoid eye contact as he got up. "I hope I can make it up to you."
"I...." welp, curiosity killed the cat. "Thank you, but...I don't..."
"Oh no no! You don't have to explain to me! Just no is fine."
"But like...how does it work?" Fuck, oh my god, was I really going to get into this?
"A threeway? Well it's usually someone in the-"
"No! Not the...just, regular sex."
"Oh! Oh....um well. You know. You just kinda..." Top took a breath. "Did Cossack never tell you?"
"Well, not everything."
"God, you're family is so innocent." Top rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Well you see, you probably have both parts, right?" I nodded. "Yeah, so your dick goes in someone else-"
"Okay I know that! But like...it's tight."
"HAVE YOU NEVER GOTTEN OFF IN YOUR LIFE?"
"What? No?"
"Okay listen, have you ever even touched yourself before?"
"Yeah, a few times...but like, what's supposed to happen."
"Jesus Christ, watch some god damn human porn or something!"
"I DID! But nothing happens like in the videos!" Fuck now I was red.
I flopped back down on my bed face first into my pillows to hide my embarrassment.
"Oh, okay. I get it now. The equipment isn't working." I felt Top sit down beside me.
"But like! Sometimes it feels like something's happening? But I don't know..."
"So you probably do work, but you're just not attracted to humans." Top thought out loud. "I mean, there's a pretty easy way to check if it actually works. But I don't think you'd want me to do...that...But if it doesn't work then you should really tell Cossack."
"I'm NOT telling my Dad that my parts don't work!"
"Why not? What's wrong with that?"
"UMM HE'S MY DAD? And then he'd know I'm sexin' up one of your brothers?"
"Pfft, sexing up? You're adorable."
"You know, the way this day started I really didn't think THIS would be the conversation I'd be having."
"Hey! It's okay. I'd honestly rather help you than picture you stumbling around trying to figure it out for yourself." Top said as he flopped down beside me on his stomach. "Okay, tell me about what happens when you try...stuff."
"I...I dunno." I pulled myself back up to sit against my headboard. "I just kinda start rubbing it?" I pulled a pillow between my legs, feeling the need for a little extra seperation.
"P...really?" Top shook head.
"What?!"
"Nothing! I just expected something a bit more...involved."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you do have both parts. I guess you probably haven't explored to far south down there."
"No, I have...but it's not really, comfortable." It was just a weird angle to try and get at.
"Okay so you do realize you have to take off your armour, right?"
"YES! I DO!" Top whacked my leg as he laughed a bit.
"I'm teasing, it's okay. Maybe you just aren't in the right position? I bet you're a knees down ass up kinda guy."
"Pardon?"
"You know!? Like-" he pulled his knees up to lift his butt up and spread them apart to make his point.
"What? No?"
"So then show me!" Top waggled his hips a bit before he sat back.
"I dunno, I just kinda lie on my back... and like pull one of my legs up?" I half assumed the position.
"No no no. Don't do that." Top waved his hands. "Come on, knees down-"
"Wait!"
"Come on! Just do it like I did! I promise it's so much easier." He said as he half lied himself down again. "Then you just lean on your other arm for support and you've got full reach!" I reluctantly took up position next to Top, but low and behold he was right.
I guess I was glad I asked; it wasn't like I was going to talk to Dad about this. I might have gotten away with asking Dive, but he probably wouldn't know any better than me...Then again I could be completely wrong. I mean, I wouldn't call Top an expert by any means, but he clearly knew what he was doing.
"Better?"
"Yeah, actually..." I wonder if I should ask about anything else.
"Well, if you have anymore questions then I'll be around." Top said as he pushed himself back up. "I know the answer is no, but if you change your mind I'd be happy to set something up." He added a bit scandalous.
"I, yeah thanks." I quickly sat myself back upright as he made for the door.
"Oh! And your Dad was looking for you earlier, he said something about turning your new little brother on tonight for a test run?"
"Oh! Shit I almost forgot!"

Chapter Text

This was so exciting! I was going to have two new sons today! Hmmm, I guess I wouldn't call them twins like Rock and Roll, but they would be sharing an activation day...whatever the date actually was. I'd lost track of the days and weeks since we'd been here. There was never any urgency to know the date or time for that matter, so I'd really stopped trying to guess.
"Dive said he's on his way back up. He's just around the reef on the other side of the island." Bright said as he pulled himself up on the empty workbench between his new brothers.
"What about P?" Dust asked.
He'd seemed pretty distant this morning. I hope everything was okay, but hopefully his new little brothers being active would put a smile on his face.
"He's not picking up...I'm sure he's on his way though."
"We have to wait for Dive anyways, we have a while." Drill tilted back in his office chair and put his feet up on the desk. Toad only looked a bit displeased as he was jostled on Drill's lap, but he leaned back and got comfortable again.
"Did Flash and Snake not want to come?" Bright asked as I got up from my computer.
"Oh, I didn't ask. Do you think they'd like to come?"
"I think they'd appreciate it. They did help quite a bit." Bright said. "This was kinda their first project."
"Snake and Flash are going to be all over these two." Toad laughed a bit.
"Well they have every right to be! They're like...I dunno, uncles?" Drill tried to justify.
"Pfft! Well, you aren't exactly wrong."
Huh, I never really thought about that. Snake and Flash had been a huge help; even just having them as an extra set of eyes to read over coding was a blessing. They knew these two inside and out though. I hoped they felt proud to have been apart of their construction.
"Do you want me to text and ask Dad?" Bright asked and he swung his legs restlessly.
"Sure, why not! I guess it's better than just having them poking around."
Pharaoh made his less than grand entrance, looking a bit redder than usual. He at least seemed happy that he hadn't missed anything.
"Sorry, I was just catching up with Top." He apologized as he found his way to the middle workbench to pick up Bright.
"Oh right! What did he want?"
"Well he just wanted to know if...uh, if I wanted to go out with their line to celebrate our activation days. Magnet's is Saturday and mine is Sunday."
"Already?!" Wow, we've been here for a while...Aw, that means we missed Bright's anniversary.
And Kalinka's birthday...
God, we'd been here so long...
"It's your build day this weekend!? You're old!" Drill teased, which earned him a bit of a playful shake from Pharaoh.
"It's not like I'm that much older than you. Bright's the old man here."
"So what does that make Magnet now? Two?"
"Yeah, the whole line turns two around the same time so they all just celebrate together. Top wanted to set up something for everyone though, he wants to have a bit of a good-bye party too. He wants you all to come too if you want! I think it would be really great if we could all go out together and have some fun."
"That does sound pretty nice. I wouldn't mind going out with them. They seem like the kind of bots that know how to have a good time." Bright said as he found his way up onto Pharaoh's shoulders.
Bright was the last one of my boys I expected to want to go out and party. I guess he had been working pretty hard though, so I couldn't blame him.
"I mean, as long as they're all okay with it."
"Yeah, it's kind of a big deal to them. But I don't see why not." Toad smiled back.
Dive shoved through the lab doors loudly as he practically skidded to a hault. He was usually that loud though, so it didn't really surprise any of us.
"Sorry! Sorry! I was just showing Wave how to use his sonar, and-!"
"Dive! You're soaking wet!" Dust scolded as he was practically already pushing Dive back out of the lab. "Go get a towel and come back."
"But-!"
"It's okay Dive, we'll wait." I laughed as he was quickly shuffled out.
"Okay! I'll be right back!" He quickly made a dash down the hall to dry off.
"So who wants to bet he trailed in water all the way up here?" Bright teased a bit as Dust smacked his forehead.
"You are all despicable. Every last one of you." He mock rolled his eyes, but that had gotten a laugh from the group. "At least I can start these two off right away with not leaving messes."
"I think you'll be okay on these two Dust. They're both programmed to be very organized. You definitely won't have to worry about Ring at least." I tried to defend the two as Dust reached up to Ring's table. "He's going to be very responsible...maybe a bit too overbearing at times. But he's just a worrier."
"What about Skull?" Pharaoh asked.
"He's very much the same, he's going to be very protective of all of us. He might not be as open as Ring, but he's still going to care a whole lot about everyone. Probably more than Ring will in all honesty."
"Why's that?"
"Well, we were working on fitting Ring for a bit of a policing job for after, so he might be a bit harsh to the Wily bots...Skull though had no initial purpose. He's more like the Wily bots than he is you lot."
"Do you think he'll be okay after then?" Toad asked, sounding a bit worried.
"As long as you lot are here for them then they'll turn out fine. They're going to love all of you."
Dive burst back into the room with Flash and Snake close behind, all looking incredible eager.
"Is this better?" Dive asked as Dust took the damp towel from him and motioned for him to put his foot up so he could clean it.
Snake and Flash didn't exactly seem thrilled with each other, but they both still looked excited. They did have a bit of a falling out with each other though, but hopefully they'd be able to see past it.
"Are....are you sure you're okay with us being here?" Flash asked, looking pretty concerned that they were intruding.
"This is kind of a, family thing, isn't it?" Snake added.
"You two equally help build these bots into who they're going to be. I want you two to be here, and be proud of what you've done." I smiled, picturing my lecturers back in university. "You've help me bring these two to life. You deserve to see how well they turned out."
They both looked pretty embarrassed. I guess they weren't used to the encouragement though. I just hoped that the two of them would continue to help build new bots, even if it was for Wily. They loved it, and they'd make a pretty decent team if Wily would just let them work on what they wanted to.
I walked over to the two Wily bots and pulled them into a tight squeeze. At least they could hide their embarrassment a bit better with their faces pressed into my lab coat.
"Thank you, sincerely from the bottom of my heart. You two did great." I gave each of them a peck on the forehead while I had them stunned in the hug.
"Aww...Cossack. We should be the ones thanking you for even letting us near them." Flash tried to redirect at me.
"Yeah! You've taught me more than Wily ever did. You're a lot better at teaching then he is." Snake insisted as he squeezed tighter against me. Flash was quicker to take a few steps back and re-compose himself.
"I'm flattered, but I'm just happy to see you two put your new skills to use."
"Okay you three saps, can we get on with this?" Bright snarked from Pharaoh's shoulders; probably feeling a bit bolder around his two lab partners than he should have been with his current vantage point.
"Yeah! C'mon Dad!"
"Okay okay." Snake reluctantly let go of me so I could sit back down infront of my computer.
I was practically shaking. I was so excited. I loved this feeling; the adrenaline high right before the first activation. The final moment when everything would finally fall into place, or fall apart. I hoped these boys would be as easy to socialize as their brothers. The first week was always critical in their development, but with so many bots around to pitch in I'm sure these two would adjust to the family just fine. I hoped they'd do okay with the Wily bots too. Flash said that he wasn't sure how Ring would react, especially being programmed the way he is. Hopefully he'd be able to put it aside for a while.
"Okay, here we go."
I watched as all of the queues green-lit their way down the list of functions. A couple items jumped out in cautionary yellow, but there were always a few bugs to begin with. Hell, the first time I turned Drill on I forgot to connect his entire vocal system. Seeing a few yellow boxes was normal though, you never got everything right on the first go.
I wheeled myself over to the tables as everyone else gathered around. Hopefullu we wouldn't startle them too badly; new bots are usually pretty cautious. Skull would probably be the easier to scare out of the two even if he did look like the tougher one. He was going to be a huge suck up. Ring on the other hand would definitely call us out for anything that he didn't like. He was a lot more stubborn than I probably would have liked, but Snake had insisted that it would be good for him.
I could have heard a pin drop as Ring's eyes fluttered open first. I must have been brimming ear to ear as he hazily looked around. He did eventually spot me, with everyone else probably still a bit out of his peripheral.
"Hello, Ring."
"...Hello." Oh god he sounded so small and nervous.
"Do you recognize me? It's okay if you don't."
"...I do...You don't look good."
"Pfft!" The rest of the room snickered. Well, at least he was honest. I probably could have tidied myself up a bit before this.
"I've seen better days." I laughed lightly as everyone else seemed eager to lean in. "I'm glad you recognize me though."
"...Of course I recognize you. You're Dr. Cossack." He was pausing an awful lot. I wonder if he was really thinking that hard about what to say or if he was still just trying to figure out his words.
"Well, you do know that I'm you're creator then?"
"...mmmm, yes. I do know that."
"And that you have brothers? And a sister?"
"...no. I know Skullman."
I glanced behind me quickly to see if the brother in question was awake, which he wasn't. He might just be taking a bit longer, all of his systems were still green.
"Skullman is one of your brothers. He's new, like you. You have six other brothers too. Do you have any data on other robots?"
"...I do...There is six of them as well. These are my brothers?"
"Yes, those are your older brothers."
"...This, Kalinka, she is your biological daughter. Not a robot? Who was kidnapped?"
"Yes, she is my biological daughter, but we see each other as one big family. She's as much my daughter as you are my son."
"...oh."
Hmmm, he didn't sound happy with that. Maybe that wasn't the way to explain it.
"Are you going to introduce us? Or do we have to do it ourselves?" Pharaoh teased as Ring craned to look up at the new voice.
"...Pharaohman."
"Yes?"
"...Brightman is on your shoulders."
"He tends to do that. He just likes to be tall."
There we go. The first hint of a smile from Ring. Pharaoh was always good with his brothers when they were new though. He was going to love this.
"Skull's coming to." Snake interjected lightly as I turned around.
"G'morning love. How are you feeling?" I asked lightly as I put my hand to his forehead. Hopefully he wasn't running hot, sometimes that's why they took longer to boot up.
"I'm fine Cossack." He yawned a bit. "Tired, but fine."
At least he recognized me right off the bat.
"That's okay. We can take things slow today."
"Good." He caught a glimpse of Snake, which immediately caught his attention. "Who are you?"
"Oh! My name is Snake. I helped Cossack with some of your construction." He smiled proudly.
"You aren't listed as one of my, brothers."
"Well no, I'm not a Cossack bot like you." Snake explained to the bare minimum detail.
I got to untying the two of them as they started to get restless. The second they saw each other though they froze up.
"...Skullman."
"Ringman."
I'd never seen two new bots interact with each other. They both knew enough about the other to identify them, but that was basically it for the two of them. There was no other data on them since they hadn't been active yet. Ring was the first one to try out the legs. He managed to pull himself upright to a sitting position before swinging his legs down.
"Hold on, let me help." I offered my hand to Ring as he cautiously accepted.
He hopped down seamlessly as Skull pulled himself up to sit. Ring was right in Skull's face though with curiosity. Skull looked less than thrilled to be under such tight scrutiny.
"...you're new."
"So are you."
"Correct."
They were going to hate each other. I didn't even want to imagine it. After hearing about Gyro and Charge I definitely didn't want that happening between my boys,
"You look mean." Skull finally spat out in his own observation.
"...how so?"
"You just look mean...like you mean business. There's nothing wrong with that."
"...I suppose."
The next few hours were a flurry of introductions. Skull and Ring seemed to be keeping up well with names though. But maybe we'd save the fifth line until tomorrow. Gyro had been around but he was quick to make his exit. Wily's introduction could wait too, unless he came and introduced himself first. I wasn't sure how these two would respond to Wily yet, but hopefully they wouldn't do anything too intense. Overall I was impressed with how quickly the two of them were catching on. They were pretty clingy to each other, but they were still just brand new. I expected them to be pretty cautious for a while until they really figured themselves out.
"You did good with them." Pharaoh smiled at me as he took a seat on the arm of the couch.
"You don't think they're too much?"
"What? Of course not! They're perfect." I gave Pharaoh's leg a couple of pats as he leaned down to give me a hug.
Pharaoh was being awefully clingy too, now that I thought about it. He was probably getting ready to butter me up for something he wanted. Ah, I guess this was better than not really getting to see him. He'd spent a lot of time with the Wily bots, talking, training, really anything to keep busy. I don't think he was avoiding us, but he was just, busy.
I watched Ring pull a mock yawn as he sat on the floor with a host of the other bots. He leaned over onto Skull, who actually didn't look surprised anymore with the closeness. Ring had pretty successfully deflated Skull's personal space bubble, but then again that was kinda what I was going for anyways. Ring wasn't supposed to be cuddly, but he was meant to stick to Skull like glue. If anyone needed to be behind the skull barrier it was the two of them. He'd pretty easily be able to slip in close enough to Skull if he needed to. I'd really somehow managed to make them into more of a tag team than individual fighters. Skull would fair fine on his own, but I was really worried that the ring boomerang wasn't enough. Quick faired fine with his boomerang but he also had his speed to back him up. I guess when they got into training I'd be able to get a better idea of what might help him.
I swear every day I spent here I was starting to sound more like Wily.
"Pharaoh, do you want to take them to bed? They've probably had just about enough for today."
"Of course, I'm surprised they don't have any sensory overload signals happening." Pharaoh joked as he stood up. "Okay you two. That's enough excitement for one day. Time for bed."
"...recharge sounds really good right about now." I watched Pharaoh hobble his way over before bending down and grabbing Ring around the stomach to pull him up to his feet. He raspberried his cheek as he pulled him into the squeeze. "Eww!"
At least Ring was smiling. Pharaoh always knew what to do. God, what had I done to deserve a son like this.
"You too Skull. Come 'ere!" Pharaoh let go of Ring with one arm and wrapped it around Skull's waist to pull him in closer and raspberry his cheek too. They were both laughing and smiling; which was such an amazing sight to see. Finally. After the months of work that we put in to finally see them come to life...it was such a fulfilling feeling.
Pharaoh quickly shuffled the two of them off to bed, which left the crowd in the living room to settle down and go their seperate ways.
"Cossack? Can I talk to you?"
Metal, that was a new one. Usually if any of the Wily bots had questions I heard it through Snake or Flash.
"Of course! Let's head back to the lab." I invited him to walk with me as I pulled myself of the old beaten in couch.
"It's nothing private! I just had some questions about Skull and Ring."
"I'd be more than happy to answer all of them."
I pushed my lab doors open as Metal hopped his way up onto one of the operating tables.
"Well, P and I were talking earlier. We were trying around the idea of getting these two into training as soon as possible for one of them to become his second-in-command. I don't know if he's talked to you about it yet."
"Oh, no, he hasn't." I guess Pharaoh had decided that the others weren't really cut out for the title. "Could you tell me a bit about what you do for Quick? Maybe I could help pick out the best fit for the position."
"...?" Metal looked back at me in shock. "You're serious?"
"Of course. We don't really have time to waste. I'd like to see both of them in training soon though."
"Oh! Yeah! Well then!" Metal seemed to relax out a lot. "Honestly it isn't as much as Quick and Magnet make it out to be." I could tell he was trying to be modest. "It's more drama and family sorting than anything. Making sure everything is prepped, keeping tabs, setting up the training hall, training with everyone to check their style, running errands for Quick, passing on orders to everyone, givin orders when Quick isn't around...family councelling when things happen. I'm kind of just a mediator between everyone."
"You give the orders when Quick isn't around?"
"Or when he is not able to. He tripped running laps last year and broke his leg, so I took over all of his line leader duties. I've never given any serious order though, but I know my brothers would listen to me if it was serious. That's why some bots aren't cut out for it. When we're in charge we need to be taken seriously, and with the same respect that they'd show line leaders. Hell, I've given the third line orders when Magnet was sick and Shadow wasn't around."
"Well, I'd say to take Ring on then. He'll be the better mediator out of the two of them. He'll probably be easier to talk to anyways. He's very serious too, I wouldn't imagine he'd be the type to mess around."
"Really? I would have guessed Skull."
"I don't know. Skull would probably make for a better tactician. Then again, we haven't really seen what they can do yet. Maybe give them a couple of days to settle down and then we can talk again."
"Right, I should talk to Pharaoh too before I start any training. If he's not confident in whatever decision we make then he won't trust them to make the decisions when he's incapacitated. The most important thing is that they trust each other."
"Well I imagine you and Quick trust each other a whole lot then?"
"Absolutely. I tell him everything. Well, not everything, but it's pretty close to everything." He grabbed at his hip shyly, clearly remembering something that he didn't want to share.
"What about Magnet and Shadow then?"
"They both trust each other a whole lot too. Shadow just, wanders. If Shadow gave me an order though I'd trust him. He gives a lot of thought into his actions before he takes them. That's part of the reason why they're all so worried about him right now."
"Hmm?"
"He's been tracking Protoman for the last couple weeks. Magnet's gotten ahold of him but no one else has. He's really focused on getting something from him, and I don't picture him stopping until he gets it...or the castle blows up. One or the other." Metal joked. "He's good at what he does though."
"I haven't really seen Shadow, I wouldn't know. You're clearly good at what you do too."
"Pppppppff, pppssshhh! What! No!"
"Metal..."
"I'm okay. Not like Magnet and Quick.
"But still good. You should all learn to take some pride in your work."
"It's not exactly work to be proud of."
"Keeps your family safe. That's something to be proud of in my opinion."
Well that got a smile out of him. A shy one, but still a good one. I bet no one had ever told him that he was doing a good job.
"Thanks, it means a lot." Metal was a good bot. "Um...can you look at something for me?"
"Hmm?"
"I um, I just got a bit scratched up the other day. It's not a bit deal." He pulled his sweater up to show of the curved scratch marks on his hips.
"Crash?"
"Ah...yeah. I got him a bit to excited the other day."
"No problem, it's just the synthetic that's torn. It'll patch up real quick." I rolled my chair back and dug around for my synthatic I was using for Skull. "Thanks for coming to talk too. I'm really glad to be apart of Skull and Ring's training."
"Really?"
"I'd rather know what's happening. I want to be able to support my boys."
I still hadn't been to really watch the boys training. I had seen some of what they were doing, and they had all improved greatly, but a part of me didn't want to know. It was still hard to believe that this was happening, but there was really no going back. I might as well indulge them. With Skull and Ring finished I'd get to watch them in action, maybe even peak in at what Wily's up to. Either way I'd be out of the lab more. I guess I would have to start preparing a bit of a speech too soI could really ham it up and then blame on Wily. As long as no one was actually getting hurt...

Chapter Text

Kalinka was up extra early today. Usually she slept 'til 9-ish, but this morning she was up and gone long before my internal alarm went off. The bed wasn't even warm; she mustn't have been able to sleep. Then again, she usually woke me up if she needed something...
I found my way to the kitchen first but Shadow was the only one there. He did look a bit shocked to see me, but I just waved and floated off to the beach house. She wasn't down there either. Ever since out first beach adventure we'd gone down almost every day. Okay, now I was starting to worry. Wily would kill me if I lost her.
"Gyro, did you take Kalinka out this morning?" I passed my line leader in the airspace of the training hall. Kalinka sometimes came to cheer us on while we practiced.
"Hmm? No. This morning she said she was just going to the kitchen for a glass of water."
"Fuck me..." I rubbed the bridge of my nose trying to think of where else she could have gone. “If you do see her again, stay with her. And call me. Don't let Wily know."
"Of course. I'll tell the others." And with that Gyro took off back to our lines hall. 
I was too young to die. Wily was going to be so mad! What if she was with her Dad? Or what if Dive had taken her and left! God damn it! 
...I bet Shadow would know exactly where she is...I wonder if he was still in the kitchen. Or if he was even still in the castle...Okay, how did Magnet usually call him?
"...Shadow...? Shadow are you here? I really need a favour." I announced to the training hall and waited for a response. Apparently his hearing was really good, so he'd have heard me...hopefully.
It looked like he wasn't interested though, either that or he just wasn't around. I was about to make my way back towards the kitchen again, just to check, but I suddenly got a notification on my personal comm.
'Wily's Lab, now.'
Well, that was one question answered.
I touched down infront of the doors within seconds, but I stopped myself from full on busting in. I guess Wily knew if we were meeting in his lab. I better think up a pretty damn good apology. Before I could open the door someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me in against their chest. I struggled to see who it was, but I wasn't sure if I recognized them.
"Tell Shadow to come out here." The bot behind me said as he pushed me up against the wall.
"What, you scared?" I taunted back, but his grip on my wrists only got tighter.
'Shadow did you set me up?'
"Just get him you second rate Wily scum."
Ppft! Second rate? SECOND RATE!
I easily flung the intruder to the opposite side of the hall with my barrier as it circled to life. Shadow was quick to seep his way out from under the lab door to provide some backup.
"Protoman."
"Fuck, he hits like a truck." The red bot sneered. 
"What business do you have here, renegade?" Shadow asked strictly as he stood beside me now.
"Came to check on the girl. I'm sure she's been well?"
"My associate here has taken care of all her needs, correct Star?"
"Of course! Ms. Kalinka is a sweetheart!" I huffed as I let the barrier slow for a moment, a bit more comfortable with Shadow's presence.
"If that's all then I suggest you move on." Shadow spat back.
"Hmph, some welcoming committee Wily has." He teleported out, who knows where he ended up.
"Sorry, I didn't want him coming in the lab and scaring Kalinka." Shadow apologized as he gently touched my arm. "Did he hurt you?"
"I'm fine. Thank you...You knew he was here?"
"He's been around for the last couple of days." Shadow nodded. "He won't leave. He's starting to become a bother." 
"Ha! I'm sure we could deal with him. He's just some stray, right?"
"Correct, but that stray *is* Megaman's older brother." Shadow corrected as I finally let the barrier dissolve.
"Oh! Really? But, he knows where we live...."
"I know, he's a loose cannon." Shadow sighed before turning back to me. "You'll be Gyro's second-in-command, correct?"
"W-! Ah, yeah, we talked about it. I'm not sure though...that's a big responsibility..."
"You'll be good for them." He said with a nod and a bit of a grin.
Wow, I don't think Shadow has ever talked to me for more than a minute, let alone complimented me so openly.
"Thank you...I wouldn't even know where to start though."
"You already take care of Kalinka. It's the same thing, except to your brothers." He explained. "Kalinka is also with Wily, they were talking in the kitchen this morning when she got up. He wanted to show her something." Shadow paused as he materialized one of his weapons.
I barely had time to react as Shadow stabbed it into my shoulder. I reeled back and kicked him away.
"OW! What was that for!!" I screamed as I pulled the throwing knife out of my shoulder.
"For letting her wander off for...3 hours."
"IT'S BEEN THREE HOURS!"
"Yes. I'll let you go and see Wily then." And with that Shadow dissolved away.
I kicked at the liquid puddle he left behind with annoyance before I pressed open the lab doors, trying not to swear my frustration out with Kalinka and Dad present.
"St-! Star what happened!" Kalinka yelled as she ran up to me. 
I defensively leaned away so she wouldn't touch me. I was still feeling a bit violated by the sudden attack. I should have just let her see, she was just curious, now she was worried.
"It's okay, here c'mon. Let me see." She pulled me to sit on the floor as she leaned down beside me.
"Shadow and I had a...bit of a disagreement." Wily gave me the all knowing look, the one that said he knew exactly what the learning experience was about. "You didn't come back to bed this morning?"
"Dr. Wily's been showing me some robot stuff." I looked back at Wily as he patted one of the examination tables beside him.
"Bring him up here love, I'll show you how to fix puncture wounds."
Kalinka practically dragged me back to my feet and over to the table. I hopped up obediantly and lied down flat on my back. Kalinka quickly shuffled around to the other side of the table and pulled up a stool so she could see.
"First you have to check if there's any internal damage." Dad said as he rubbed my stomach softly. "But I really don't think Shadow would have hurt you that bad. He doesn't like making unnecessary work."
"No, nothing is coming up as damaged on my scan report." I nodded along as Dad gently felt his way up to my shoulder to squeeze the seperated tissue.
"The most important thing is to keep them calm. If they stress while you're filling patches then they can tear wounds further." Wily further explained.
"Why wouldn't they be calm? Star is good?"
"Well, if the damage is fresh then they can be in pain. Or if they're confused or scared, or just disoriented." Wily gently rubbed his other hand through my hair as I found myself sighing a breath I didn't know I was holding. "It's stressful for them. You have to understand that what they can tolerate pain wise might not seem bad, but they hide a lot of what they are really feeling. You have to know how to read them."
"Oh...like Pharaoh? He got hit with one of the spike traps while he was at work. You could see right through his stomach, and he was still awake. Dad said he was in a lot of pain." Kalinka said as she took Wily's job of playing with my hair as he reached back for some synth filler.
"Your brother is a strong bot. He wouldn't want others to see how hurt he really was. I don't doubt that he was in an excruciating amount of pain. He just didn't want anyone to worry about him."
"That's what he said. He said he could be fixed." Kalinka sighed for a moment. "How do robots die?"
"Oh! Um...well. Robots have I.C. Chips that store all of their personality characteristics and knowledge. Basically everything that makes Star, Star, is stored in that little chip." Wily handed Kalinka a beat up looking spoon with some dried filler already on it. "If that chip were destroyed then we'd lose those characteristics of that bot. There are some precautions that can be made, you can make back up copies, but they lose all of their experiences after their last data storage." 
"So why not make back ups more often?"
"It's very stressful on them. Having to open up their frames and remove the chip to upload to a seperate data bank is a huge process. You never know what might go wrong; whether some things don't load correctly, or at all. It's scary. For them, and for us."
"I guess that makes sense." Kalinka nodded as Wily handed her the plastic jar of filler. 
"Start with small scoops and work your way up. I'll smooth it out for you." Wily watched carefully as Kalinka started filling.
I winced at the cold spoon pressing against my skin, but Dad was quick to calm me back down.
"Did that hurt?" Kalinka asked worriedly.
"I'm okay, it's just cold."
"Bah! Ya baby, it's not that cold. You're made of metal!"
"Wow, she's worse than you are." I joked as I looked back at Dad. At least I got a laugh out of him as Kalinka pretended to be offended.
"After everything I've taught you, and you still disappoint me." Kalinka mocked back uncharacteristically. 
"Pfft okay, I haven't disappointed you yet!"
"Wait until he tries to make you a tea, that's what disappointment tastes like." Dad took a jab as Kalinka laughed.
"HEY! It was my first time making it okay?!"
"I'm just teasing love." Dad gave me a quick smooch on the forehead, just to embarrass me infront of Kalinka even more. 
Kalinka was doing a good job at least. At least from what I could tell it looked pretty good. Dad barely even had to re-pull it for her. I wonder if Dad was getting her ready to help Cossack after their fight. I'm sure he would appreciate the extra hands trying to get back on his feet. Not that she could help that much, but at least she wouldn’t feel useless.
“Okay, all done.” Kalinka patted my stomach as she put her materials down. “That wasn’t so bad. That was kinda fun!” She smiled.
“I’m surprised your Dad doesn’t have you in the lab with him more to teach you about these things.” Wily half stated, and half asked.
“He doesn’t want me to get hurt. He says there are lots of things in the lab that could hurt me.”
“Bah! What a man...if you learn how to use those tools then you’re less likely to get hurt by them! He should be showing you how everything works!”
“I’d really like to learn. I want to help him!” Kalinka smiled softy as she leaned over and lied herself out on my stomach. “One day I want to build robots, just like Daddy.”
“Such a selfless girl.” Wily chuckled. “I have to admire your drive though. I think you’d make for a fine roboticist one day.” He encouraged.
“Really?”
“Of course, you’ve done so well with my boys, and your brothers too. I think you’ve done more for them than you realize.”
This was also true. Dad had said that my line had turned out a lot different than he had programmed us. He put most of the blame on Kalinka’s ‘babysitting’. He never said we came out bad though, which was bad I guess? Because we’re supposed to be bad?
...I guess that made us good.
Huh.
“They were really easy to socialize! You should have seen Drill when he was a baby! I remember Dad turning him on and off a lot. He was very shy, and kinda nervous all the time. He wouldn’t sleep by himself so Pharaoh had to come home and help get him into recharge.”
“I wonder why that was...usually new bots love nap time.”
“I don’t know. Dad said that Drill doesn’t like being alone. He’s better now though.”
“That’s good.” Dad leaned on the side of my table. I hated waiting for synth to dry, it was so annoying. “So what are the plans for today?”
“I was going to watch them train today for a while. They’re all getting really good.” Kalinka smiled, talking about me and my brothers. “Crystal is really good with his barrier now.”
“Well, he’s been practicing a lot.” I finally got a word in between the two.
“Yes, I see him out on the beach too practicing.” Dad nodded. “Shield weapons usually take a long time to master though.”
“Manipulating them isn’t exactly a natural reflex. It’s like, when people try and move things with their mind.” I joked as Kalinka laughed.
“But you’re really good too!! I love the star barrier, it’s so pretty.”
“It is pretty, isn’t it? Like shooting stars.”
“Well, because I make it look good!”
They both laughed, but it was in good fun. Kalinka yawned half way through her laughter.
“Long morning?” I asked.
“She was up pretty early for a water.” Wily stretched as he sat up too. “It might not be a horrible time for a nap.”
“Pfft, I’m not a baby! I don’t need a nap.” Kalinka huffed.
“Who said naps are for babies only? Naps are good for everyone.” Wily tried to encourage.
“Yeah, but I’m not a baby. I don’t need a nap.”
“Suit yourself. I’m going to shut my eyes for a while. You can bother Star while the synth dries.” Wily waved her last comment off as he got up.
“I’m not bothering you, am I?”
“What? No of course not!” I quickly cleared up. “I love having you around.”
Wily made his exit fairly quickly, no doubt he’d been up all night. At least he was sleeping, it wasn’t uncommon for him to be awake for days at a time.
“Star. I’m going to miss you when I go back home...” Kalinka sighed as I sat up on my elbows to look down to her.
“...I’m going to miss you too.”
I guess she would be leaving soon; especially since her new brothers were finally done.
“It’s going to be a lot emptier here with you and your family gone.”
“Well, you’ll just have to come and visit then!” She said cheerily.
“I’m not sure it’ll work like that, love. I don’t want to get your family in any more trouble than they already are...”
“...you won’t come and visit?”
Oh shit! No! Please don’t cry!
“Darling...How about this. I’ll come and see you at the beginning of the month, ever month. Okay?” I lied on the spot.
I guess lying really was part of the Wily coding.
“Really?” She sniffed, holding back the water works for now.
“For as long as you need me to. As long as your family is okay with it.”
“You’re family too!”
Great, now I was going to cry.
“...You really think of me like that?”
“Mmhhmmm! You’re the best little brother!” Yep, now I was crying.
“I’m, really happy you think of me like that.” I smiled. “Well, you’re the best big sister I’ve EVER had!”
“I’M THE ONLY SISTER YOU’VE HAD!”
I laughed, tears effectively overted, as she smacked my stomach lightly.
“But you’re the best.”
“...Everyone at school makes fun of me for calling the others my brothers.”
“Well, I guess I’ll just have to beat them up for you. Won’t I?”
“You’re not allowed to do that!” Kalinka laughed. “I can beat up the boys myself!”
“Pfft! Lookit you! Is all that watching us train starting to rub off on you?”
“I’m a strong, independent woman! I can deal with the haters.” She joked, which made me laugh again.
“You’re getting to be a little wily then too, don’t you think?”
“Well, it’s hard not to. It’s practically in the air here.”
She wasn’t lying. Sometimes this place even smelt like it was up to no good. Usually the reminents of someone’s prank gone wrong.
“I still think you’re good.” I coddled back.
“I don’t think any of you are all that bad.”
“Touché.”

Chapter Text

26.

Yesterday had been incredibly quiet without Dust around. Lonely might actually be a better way to put it. Painfully lonely. I messed up, big time.
He was going to hate me! I mean, I’d hate me if I were in his position! I should have just kept my mouth shut! Maker! Now I was going to lose my best friend...
My room was an absolute disaster. I came in hot last night and ended up pulling out all of my fluffy soft things and piling them on my bed with me. Even my plush rhino wasn’t as much comfort as it usually was. Everything in here reminded me of Dust now; I’d have to throw all of it out. Burn it. Get rid of it. Okay, maybe donate it. I’m not as dramatic as Gemi.
I flung my familiar plushie across the room, connecting with my desk lamp and knocking it over. I couldn’t be bothered to pick it up. I pulled my blankets tighter around myself and sunk back into the pile of softness.
I needed to go and talk to Dust; I don’t think he’d come and talk to me. Not that I’d really want him to see me like this either. What would I even tell him though? That I’m sorry? That I messed up? He said he liked me back though, didn’t he? Maybe I was just wishfully making up what I wanted to hear now. He wouldn’t have told me that if he wasn’t serious. But, maybe he was being serious? It was all really a blur of what happened last night.
I heard my door creak open slowly as I pulled a pillow over my head. I don’t think I was ready to face whoever it was standing there now.
The door closed and locked, signalling that whoever had come in was intending on staying. I felt the weight shift on my mattress as they sat down at the foot of the bed.
“Hey buddy. I’m worried about you.” Snake. Perfect. “I know what happened. Do you want to talk?”
“...Not really.” I huffed as Snake snuggled in against me.
“That’s fine. I’m here for you though.”
I knew Snake well enough that he wasn’t going to leave now until I spilled the beans. My room was way too warm for him to leave voluntarily.
We lied their in silence for a good half hour still. Maybe my stubbornness would win out after all.
“Skull and Ring are online now. I wasn’t sure if you knew that.” Snake said quietly as he pressed into my chest.
“...which means they’re leaving soon.”
“Which means they’ll be back home, and together again.” Snake corrected.
He wasn’t really helping.
“What do you want me to do?” I huffed as I shuffled out from under my blankets to look at him.
“Nothing. I don’t want you to do anything you aren’t ready for.”
“What SHOULD I do then? I don’t know if I can hide in here much longer.”
“Well.” Snake started as he leaned up on his elbows. “I think you know what you want to do, but you aren’t sure if it’s the right thing to do.”
“And?”
“I think whatever you do will be better than what you’re doing now.”
“Ha ha, funny.” I pulled the blankets back over my head. “Leave me alone, Snake.”
“I wasn’t being funny. I hate seeing you like this.” He sighed as he pulled the blankets back and ran his hand through my hair. “You’re overthinking this. Dust knows what he wants to do too. He’s just waiting for you to be ready.”
“Did you talk to him?”
“No, but he talks to himself a lot.”
“You were spying on him.”
“Not spying.” Snake defended. “I’m just worried about you two. You’re just making it worse for yourself all cooped up like this.”
“What...um, what does he think?”
“Can’t say. It’s private.” Now he was mocking me. “Just go and talk to him. I promise you’ll feel a lot better.” Snake slowly got up and stretched before practically dragging me up to sit as well. “Get yourself cleaned up first though. You look like you’ve been crying for days.”
He definitely knew I’d been crying for days.
“...Okay, I’ll go talk to him.”
“That’s the stuff. He’s with his new little brothers in the training hall. He’ll probably take you back to his room to talk.”
“Okay.”
And with that, Snake was off again. Leaving me to my own thoughts again. Finally forcing myself into motion was the worst. Everything in my body just wanted me to stay here in bed. But, now I was curious.
I flung the sheets down to the foot of the bed and sat myself up. These pants were fine, but the shirt was pretty...tear stained. I wonder is robot tears tasted salty, like people tears. That’s that they always say in those romance books that I borrow from Top. Those sad romance books. Great, now my life was exactly like one of Top’s soap operas. Meet the bot of my dreams, become best friends, and then mess it all up because I told him how I really felt. Probably should have seen that one coming. I shrugged a hoody on quickly and brushed my hair out as best I could before making my way to the door.
Training hall, that was through the kitchen and down the hall to the right. Not far at all. Hopefully nobody would be in the kitchen...
I closed my door lightly behind myself, just in case any of my brothers were around the hear me leaving, and carried on to the kitchen. Oddly empty, perfect. Snake had moved to the couch, but that was it. He gave me an encouraging thumbs up as he curled around himself to get comfortable. I guess I wasn’t exactly surprised that Snake knew what was going on, but I wasn’t thrilled to hear he’d been spying on Dust. I knew he spied on us, which was still weird, but he at least tried to defend his actions to say it was out of concern.
I slowly popped the door to the training hall to find all of the Cossack’s mock fighting with each other. The two new boys looked right at home with their new brothers already. They all looked so happy.
Pharaoh was leading the charge on the one side of the arena, while Dive was holding fort behind some practice mats on the far side. It looked like capture the flag, but with a lot more sharp things, and fire, and time stopping. Pharaoh, Bright, Drill, and the new bot who I had to assume was Ring were making their way around the side of the war zone, while Dive, Toad, Dust and Skull set up their defences.
Dust looked so happy to be training woth the whole family again. Truthfully, I’d been kinda hogging him. I bet his family would absolutely hate me spending more time with him...
“Needle, sorry were you looking to do some training today?” I turned on the observation deck to see Cossack sat against the railing watching his boys in action.
“Oh...no...I was, uh, just looking for Dust actually. I have to apologize, to him.” I stumbled over my words shyly as Cossack patted the seat beside him.
“Uh-oh, come have a seat big guy. Tell me what’s wrong.” He invited warmly as I took a seat.
“It’s nothing, to big...really.”
“Uhuh?” Cossack gave me a doubtful look.
“...Just, I did something dumb...and I’m afraid he’s upset, and that he won’t want to be friends with me anymore...and...and.” I huffed as I tried to stop myself from crying again.
“Hey, it’s okay Needle. Come here.” Cossack quickly pulled me in for a hug. “I can tell you right now that Dust isn’t mad. Maybe a bit upset, but he’s not mad.”
“But it’s my fault...I shoulda kept my mouth shut...” I huffed as I crossed my arms and leaned on the rail.
“I’m sure you two will work it out.” Cossack encouraged as I heard Drill and Dust laughing, having caught each other on the feild. “You’re probably one of the only real friends he has. He has brothers, but as far as I’ve known he’s never told me about any friends like he’s told me about you.”
Hmmm, well I guess that was supposed to sound encouraging. It really only made me feel like even more of a jerk though. I sat silently for the next few minutes and just watched the family practice. It was kind of weird seeing the familiar game from this perspective. My brothers and I played capture the flag a lot, but offense usually won. I mean, Shadow, Magnet, Top, and Snake always put up a good play. It’s always hard to keep them away from the flag base.
It took me a second to realize that Drill was waving up to me. I guess he’d finally given up on trying to get the flag and had noticed I’d come to watch. Dust looked a bit, shocked, to see me here. He was pretty quick to abandon his team and come up to see me. I got up quickly and wiped my eyes, hoping I still looked somewhat presentable.
“Needle, thank god. I was afraid you were still mad at me!” He sighed out in relief as he armoured down clumsily.
“Wh-? Me! I-I thought you’d still be mad at me!”
He flung his arms over my shoulders and pulled me into a tight squeeze. My arms naturally found their way around Dust’s back as I pressed my face into the side of his neck comfortingly. Maker, at least he wasn’t mad.
“Can we go somewhere and talk? Like, private?” Dust asked quietly as he leaned back.
“Mmm, your room?” I asked as he nodded.
“Okay. I’ll be back later, Dad.” Dust waved to Cossack before taking my hand and practically dragging me back to his room.
Snake was still on the couch in the living room ‘asleep’. No doubt just checking through all of his cameras. At least we didn’t bother him as Dust practically sprinted back to his room. He closed the door behind him and locked it as I made myself at home on his bed.
“I’m so sorry, Needle!” Oh no! He was crying!
Dust practically flung himself at me, knocking my back onto his bed as he collapsed in my arms. His face was effectively pressed into my collar as he shook.
“Yesterday was horrible without you...” he admitted first.
“Yeah...I was going to say the same thing.”
I started to rearrange myself to get a bit comfortable with Dust clinging to my chest. I pulled his blankets around us as I felt him tense up.
“So, about yesterday.” I started as I placed my hands against the small of his back. “I, I do really want to be your boyfriend still. But I’m fine with just being frien-“
“I WAS SO WORRIED THAT YOU’D CHANGE YOUR MIND!” Dust sobbed, sounding a bit relieved. “I want to be woth you too, I want to be your boyfriend...”
Okay then...um....
“Um, okay. Awesome.” Fuck, did I really just say awesome?
“Awesome, indeed.” Dust laughed as he wiped his face.
“Fuck, sorry. I mean, I’m glad that you didn’t change your mind either.” I corrected, but Dust was already grinning like an idiot again.
“I guess that makes us, like, a couple now.”
“I guess it does.” I smiled down at him as he looked up at me.
He had a new look. He looked so, content. And relived. Maybe neither of those things were a good enough descriptor.
“Can I, uh, can I kiss you?” I asked nervously.
“Pfft, on the first date?” Dust laughed as I physically felt myself get redder. “Of course, love.”
Dust scooted his way up closer to my face and gently pressed his lips to mine. Wow, just...wow. This was still a lot to process.
“Are you okay?” He asked, sounding worried.
I’m sure he felt reassured as I pulled him back in for another kiss. Sloppy as it was. I hope he got the tone that I was MORE than okay with this. He sat up, leaning down into the kiss as his tongue found it’s way between my lips. Oh.
“It that too much?” Dust asked.
“Um...no. It’s kinda weird...I could get used to it?” I guess. “How did you-“
“Humans are gross in public. Don’t worry, I’m not going to try and eat your tonsils like they do.” He laughed as he gave me another quick peck before exploring lower.
He kissed my jaw and then trailed down to my neck. Which was an absolute sensation.
“Do you think hickies work on synthetic?”
“What?” I guess I was about to find out.
At first I thought he was just sucking on my neck, which was almost worse than the tongue thing. But then I felt his teeth grazing over my skin; not digging in, but still pretty forceful. It would definitly leave a mark. Come to think of it, I guess I had seen Magnet with spots on his neck that looked a little discoloured. That’s probably what Dust was trying to do.
His one hand started to migrate lower, the other still firmly planted on my shoulder to pin me down. He found his way under my shirt and rubbed up my chest. Once he seemed happy with the mark he’d made on my neck he sat back, straddled over my hips.
“Maker, you’re so cute when you blush.” Dust smiled as his other hand found it’s way under my shirt as well.
I put my arm up over my face in embarrassment. If I knew there was going to be this much touching involved I would have at least showered first. I didn’t know there was so much touching involved.
“Do you want me to slow down?” Dust asked, sounding a bit concerned.
“Maybe a little. This is kinda new.” I admitted as he slid his hands back out and held onto my belt instead.
“Sorry, I’m rushing you. I just want to kiss every inch of you!” He laughed as I sat up on my elbows.
“That might take a while.” I smirked back.
“Hence why I want to start early.” He laughed as he flopped back ontop of me and threw his arms over my shoulders again. “I guess your cuteness is all mine now though, so no rush.” He went in for what I thought was another hicky, but it turned into a raspberry instead.
“Ewww!” I laughed as he snuggled back into my neck. “Did that hicky leave a mark?”
“Yeah, I can see the blue of your inside junk through your skin. I guess that’s bruised? Just, it goes see through?” He laughed a bit as he leeched onto my collar again.
“Come on! Now I gotta hide that from Magnet.” I playfully whinned as he laughed against my skin. He finished this one with a few licks before moving up to just under my ear guard.
“Now everyone’s gunna know you’re mine.” I felt his smile on my neck as I bit my lip. That was a sensative spot.
“I think, they already know that.”
“Good, but there’s nothing wrong with a little assurance.” Once I was thoroughly pocked up with love marks Dust settled back in against my chest. “I love you, Needle.”
“I, I love you too, Dust.” Wow, okay. We were a thing now. We were a couple.
How were we going to make this work. There was no possible way in hell that we could make this work. Between everything that’s happening now and what’s going to happen after their fight.
But, I was going to do everything in my power to make sure he was happy and safe. I wanted him home with his family, and I didn’t want him to fight. All I wanted was to see him happy. So if being with him now was going to get him to smile like this all the time then I guess that was good.
I wasn’t ready for the heartache that was coming after his fights. The meaningless self guilt and pity, and depression, and the hurt. The hurt is unbearable. I just want to be there for him! I don’t want him to have to go throught what I’ve already gone through. I don’t want him to feel so alone, like I did.
As long as I could make him smile like this, well, that’s all I could do. It’s the least I could do after my family has done to mess up their lives.
“Needle?”
“Oh? Um...yeah.”
“It’s going to be alright. Okay?”
“I-! Yeah...thanks.”
Maybe I needed him more than he needed me.

Chapter Text

27.

“...Skull, do you think that this is a good idea?” I asked, hoping he was still awake.
Today had been, crazy. Well, compared to yesterday at least. We had been training, but Dust had to leave early. Pharaoh took me to go talk with Metal today too. He seemed like he was fairly put together. He was also still a Wily bot though, and they were supposed to be bad...
“I think there’s a good reason...I wouldn’t say it was a good idea.” Skull shifted to look back at me. I don’t know how we’d ended up sharing just the one bed that was in our shared room, but I wasn’t exactly complaining.
“I guess. I wonder what she’s like.”
“Me too. The other say that she’s really nice.” Skull smiled.
“...Do you think, that we’re supposed to be bad guys now?”
“Um...I don’t understand.”
For all that Skull was good for, theoretical philosophy didn’t seem to be his strongest suit.
“We’re suppost to wage a war, on a city that has done nothing wrong to us. Because Dr. Wily was lazy and kidnapped Cossack’s daughter.”
“I don’t like that you call him Cossack...” Skull huffed lightly.
“...Why?”
“Because he’s supposed to be our Dad. You can call him Dad.”
“Hmm...but we are not biologically related-“
“Who cares?” That, was a good question. “I think, if he’s trying to be our Dad, then we should at least try to be his sons. That’s what the others do, and they seem happy.”
“This is, true. Alright, I’ll call him Dad.”
“Thank you.” Skull always seemed so exhausted whenever we talked. I wonder if there was something wrong with his fuel consumption or recharge. “I don’t think we’re bad.”
“But, looking at the evidence...our mere existence makes us bad.”
“Have we done anything bad though? Other than exist? Existing can’t be bad, or good.” Okay, maybe he was a bit more philosophical than I gave him credit for.
“I, guess.” I huffed. “But we’re practically Wily bots.”
“How?”
“I, don’t know...we were made here in the Wily fortress, we’re training to fight instead of doing our intended work...”
“That’s easy for you to say. You at least have an intended purpose...” Skull sighed back. “I guess that makes me more Wily than you.” He joked.
“It does.”
“When this is all over...I’m afraid of what Dad’s going to do to me.” He admitted as he scooted in closer.
“He wouldn’t do anything to you. He likes you.”
“He likes you too.” He pointed out.
“I know that, but he’s not going to do anything bad to you...and if he does, then we’ll just run away.”
“Ha, we can’t run away Ring. That’s silly.”
“Well, I just won’t let him do anything to you. You can come and work with me.”
“Yeah, because that’s a great idea too.” I could almost feel his eyes roll.
“What? It is! We can do the whole good cop bad cop thing!”
“What’s that? It sounds really corny.” He laughed.
“Bah! No appreciation for fine tv dramas.”
“What’s a tv drama?” Okay, at least he was joking this time. “I guess that’s alright then. At least then I can watch your back. You’ll need it, especially after that display in training today.” He took a jab.
“I didn’t know I was going to jump that high! I’m still figuring out how everything works! Like you were any better!”
“Dad said that sheild weapons were hard to use! It’s not my fault Drill got in the way!” At least he was laughing about it when I helped Pharaoh peel him off the wall.
Training today had been really fun though. Just, spending time with everyone was a lot of fun. I liked having them all around, even if Dive was really loud and obnoxious, and Pharaoh was a bit of a show off. I guess I was okay with them being my brothers.
“So, what do you think about Megaman?” Skull asked.
“He’s probably a cocky jerk.” Skull laughed as I continued. “I mean, I would be if I’d beaten up that many strong robots.”
“He must be really strong...”
“Yeah...”
“And I bet he’s not really that nice like Dad said. Quick said he left his line in shambles.”
“He’s probably worse than the Wily bots. Dad didn’t even put that much information on him in my data reserves. Just that he was some kind of world hero. The news lies though.”
“Why would the news lie?”
“I don’t know, they just do, apparently.” I’m not sure where that specific knowledge came from either.
“Astil was the other one right? The one that knows what’s going on?”
“Mmmhhmm, Pharaoh said he went and told him and Plantman.”
“I bet he’s nice. Pharaoh made him sound really nice.”
“Pharaoh said that Astil only has one arm.”
“WHY WOULD HE ONLY HAVE ONE ARM?! Aren’t all humans supposed to have two arms?” Skull panicking.
“He lost it, in an accident. He’s fine though.”
“What so you mean? How do you just loose an arm?”
“It got cut off, that might be a better way to put it.”
“HOW DID HIS ARM GET CUT OFF?”
“Hey, I don’t have all the answers!” I laughed. “You’ll have to ask him yourself once this mess is all over.”
“You can’t just ASK someone why their missing an arm! That’s impolite.”
“Yeah, but the curiousity is going to kill you.” I sneered back as he smacked me playfully.
“It is...damn...I can’t believe I’m going to have to ask someone I’ve never met before how their arm came off.”
“That just means I won’t have to ask. But I’m sure you’ll find a way to embarrass us both.”
“Hey!”
I’m honestly really glad to have Skull around. Just to talk to, and to have someone to confide in. We were both just figuring this out together; so I was glad he was the one I was stuck with on this ride.
“Okay, get some sleep you goof. We can embarrass each other more tomorrow.” I snuggled back into the blankets as Skull cuddled in closer.
“Fine, goodnight, Ring.”
“Night, Skull.”

...

Sleep was good, waking up wasn’t fun. Skull and I were really pretzelled around each other this morning, but it was still somehow comfortable. Pharaoh physically had to drag us out of bed to get us up for the day. He said he wanted to show us how to make breakfast for Dad. He lead us down to the kitchen, which was already bustling.
“Good morning, Flash, Gyro.”
“Morning. Oh! Morning you two! You’re up early.” Flash smiled warmly.
I guess the look I sent back was less than gleeful.
“Good morning, Flash.” Skull filled in before putting his hand out to Gyro. “We haven’t met yet. I’m Skull, this is Ring.”
“Nice to meet you. Flash has been telling me about your two.” Gyro smiled. “I see Ring isn’t a morning person.”
“No, it doesn’t look like it.” Pharaoh sighed with a smile. “That’s okay. Not everyone can be an early bird.” He teased.
“So what are we doing up so early?” Flash asked playfully.
“I wanted to show them how to make breakfast for Dad.”
“Perfect timing! Here, stir this.” Flash handed off a mixing bowl to Skull as I pulled myself up on the counter to sit.
“What is it?” Skull asked as he started stirring.
“Pancake mix. For Kalinka and our Dad.” Gyro said. “We were making enough for Cossack too, but he’s usually us to make breakfast for himself. You guys are just up early.” Gyro handed me a flat looking tool to hold onto. “You can flip.”
I watched as Flash reached under the counter and pulled out a flat grill looking thing. I guess that’s what you cook pancakes on.
“So what’s on the plan for today?” Flash asked as he leaned between my legs to get closer to me.
“I don’t know. I thought we were going to sleep in, but that clearly isn’t happening.” Flash laughed as I smacked him lightly with the flat side of the flipper.
“Well, I’m sure we can find something fun to do.” Skull noted optimistically. He was somehow already covered in the pancake batter.
“Pfft, I’m sure you can.” Gyro laughed as he grabbed a towel off the stove handle and started cleaning Skull up. “You can stir slower, then you don’t get as messy.”
“Does Wily like fruit with his pancakes?” Pharaoh asked, half in the fridge.
“Berries and stuff.” Flash responded as I squeezed my legs around him to try and hold him back. “You know, like, raspberries!” He leaned in and raspberried my stomach.
“Ah! Ha! No don’t!” I practically squealed as he laughed.
“Maybe if you didn’t look so grumpy I wouldn’t have to!” Flash smiled as I tried to push him away.
“C’mon Flash. Leave the baby alone.” Pharaoh teased as he brought a selection of fruit over to the counter beside me.
“Hey! I’m not a baby!”
“Oh yeah?” Flash questioned as he raspberried me again, my guard lowered slightly with the comment.
“Okay, enough.” Pharaoh laughed as he started washing the berries up.
“Here, I’m done.” Skull handed off the bowl to Gyro before leaning in beside me.
“Thank you.” Gyro had a little cup now that he was using to portion out the batter. “So are you two adjusting well?”
“I, think so?” Skull responded for us. “There’s a lot to take in.”
“There is.” Gyro agreed. “We’re all here for you though, if you even need anything. I’m not sure how much help we can be, but we’re always around to talk.”
“...thank you. That’s very kind of you.” I said as I turned to watch Pharaoh cut some tops off of the strawberries.
“Us robots have to look out for each other! We’re all figuring this out together.” Gyro looked off behind me and waved at someone as they came in to join us. “Morning, Top.”
“Good morning everyone.” Top said as he rolled his way around the counter, still yawning.
“What are you doing up so early?”
“Maggie couldn’t sleep last night...So he kept me up. I was just grabbing some fuel.” The other seemed to share a look between themselves that must have said something, because Top turned beet red. “OKAY! NOT LIKE THAT! We were just up talking.”
“Sure, talking.” Flash teased playfully.
“Come on, not around the kids!” Top smacked as Flash.
It was nice seeing everyone getting along, even if we weren’t supposed to get along with the Wilybots. It was funny, I guess, that somehow our captors had become such good friends. Hell, Flash and Snake helped build Skull and I, they were *practically* like family.
“Uh, actually Top. I’ve been meaning to talk to you, about our weekend plans.” Pharaoh said, a bit meekly.
“Oh! Like...group plans right?”
“Yes! Yeah. The whole group!” Well, Pharaoh was hiding something...that probably deserved some investigation.
“We wanted to do lunch down in the robotics district, and then there’s a fight going on down by the docks that a couple of the guys wanted to go and see. But if that isn’t your guys’s thing then we’re all just gunna come back here to the beach and party it up.” Top was practically beaming. He must be really looking forward to this.
“Top that sounds awesome!” I turned back to Flash as he took the pancake fipper from me.
“It sounds like you’ve been planning.” Skull added as he watched Flash.
“Well, yeah, a little bit. I just love celebrating with everyone. It’s nice to all be together.”
“And it doesn’t hurt to have fun either.” Flash added. “Here, plate.”
I was made the designated plate holder as Flash divided out the pancakes into stacks before moving them onto seperate plates. This cooking thing didn’t seem to hard, maybe I should learn a bit more about how to cook. I’m sure Cossack and his daughter would love it.
Dad...and Kalinka.
“Hey, will you two stay with Flash for a bit. I actually wanted to show Top something.” Pharaoh said, already making his exit holding onto Top’s hand.
“Um...yeah. Of course. We’ll catch up with you later.” I nodded. I guess he needed to talk to him alone.
“Thanks Ring.” I slid back down off the counter as Skull helped Gyro divide up the fruit.
“Well...do you two want to come and meet Wily? I mean, you probably don’t want to.” Flash said as some fruit was put on the plate I was holding. “I can’t imagine that either of you are big fans.”
“Is anyone?”
“Ha! Okay, fair point. You two can take your Dad his pancakes then. I’m sure he’ll be real proud that you two helped.”
“Helped, as in, Pharaoh dragged us out of bed and then left us here to watch.”
Flash patted my shoulder, chuckling lightly.
“Well, you can go back to bed after.”
“Deal.”
“It was nice meeting you Gyro.” Skull added as I was already making my exit with the plate.
“You two too!” Skull was quick to skuttle up behind me as we headed back to Dad’s lab.
“You weren’t very nice to them.” Skull pointed out.
“Wonder why?” I snarked back at him.
“Ring...I know you aren’t a fan. But, try and think of this from there perspective.”
“...I know, I’m sorry.” I huffed, not really seriously apologizing.
“You shouldn’t be so...brooding. Flash really cares about us. They all do.”
“If they really cared do you think we would have been made?”
“They have orders Ring. They can’t break them.”
“They don’t have to. Their programming is different.”
“Not THAT different. Just, try and enjoy this. Okay?”
“...Only because you said to.” I knocked on Cossack’s bedroom door before letting ourselves in. “Good Morning, are you up yet Cossa-Dad?” Skull gave me a dirty look.
Dad stirred in bed as a put the plate down on his side table. Skull planted himself in the doorway and leaned on the frame.
“Oh, good morning boys...what time is it?” He asked groggily.
“Early, 7:00. Pharaoh got us up early to make breakfast.”
“And then abandoned us to go hang out with the cool kids.” Skull added, which at least made Cossack laugh.
“Aww, that’s not nice. Did you make this by yourselves?”
“No, Flash and Gyro did.” I sat myself down on the foot of the bed. “We just watched.”
“I believe it’s called ‘supervising’.” Skull laughed as he came to tackle me back onto the bed. He practically knocked the wind out of me.
“Hey! No fighting in the bedroom!” Dad laughed as he picked up his plate of pancakes. “These look wonderful though, thanks you two.” I was already curled back up in the blankets at the foot of the bed. Pharaoh wouldn’t dare wave me up if I was sleeping in here.
“Welcome, Dad.” Skull said as I felt him slump ontop of me as he got comfortable.
“You two can sleep here. You still look pretty tired.” I felt Dad’s hand run through my hair playfully as I pressed my face further into the blankets.
I listened to the light tapping of his fork as he divided up the pancakes for a while. He didn’t seem to be in any rush to get up either. Maybe we could just have a lazy day today.

.....

“I think I changed my mind.” I was vibrant red no doubt as I pulled Magnet into my room quietly.
“...about-“
“Yes, about the sex.” Fuck. “I mean! You know...!”
“Yes! Yeah! I know! Um...sweet!” Top’s smile was warm as he found his seat on my bed. “I’ll let Maggie know then. I’m sure he’ll be excited.” He said, clearly already privately messaging him.
“It’s not going to be weird is it?” I cringed a bit as I sat beside him.
“Only if you let it be weird. I think it’ll be fine.” He smiled.
“Okay...have you even talked about it with him yet?”
“Oh yeah, tons.” He nodded. “He wants you to absolutely rail him.”
“Pfft! What! No way?” He successfully made me all blushy as he leaned back.
“Listen, you gotta keep things spicy somehow. He likes talking about you.”
Well that was, flattering. I’m surprised that Top was okay with all of this though. Or rather, that he’d brought up the event in the first place.
“Are you, okay with all of this?” I asked on a whim.
“I...I think so? I’m okay with it now. As long as he doesn’t like you more than he already likes me.” He added jokingly on the end. “I guess, I think you’re pretty cool too.”
“Well...I think you’re pretty awesome too.” Top laughed as I lied back beside him. “Is it weird that I’m really excited for this?”
“No? I don’t think so at least. I’m glad you’re excited.” He said as he scooted in closer. “I think this is going to be a lot of fun.”
I tentatively lifted my one arm up, inviting Top in closer. I guess I’d have to get used to having my personal space bubble being invaded by these two. At least I knew it was coming now, and not a surprise like last time. Top rolled onto his side and lied up against me resting his head on my arm. He was practically beaming as he looked up at me.
We both flung up as my door burst open; Magnet was looking particularly red as he stood in the doorway.
“Shh, you’re gunna wake my Dad up.” I hushed as he closed the door behind him.
“Top! I though we weren’t...” Magnet sat down beside Top and grabbed him around the waist.
“You said you’d want to with someone you liked. So I asked.” He said as he leaned back and kissed Magnet’s cheek.
“Oh my God, you’re so embarrassing.” Magnet made awkward eye contact with me before pushing his face into the nape of Top’s neck. “You, want to though?”
“I...yeah. I mean, if you’re alright with me. I figured you wanted to already is Top was asking.” Top wiggled himself around so he was sat facing Magnet more as I found myself leaning in eagerly.
“I think we could really have some fun.” Top encouraged as Magnet squeezed him tighter. “It’s okay if you don’t want to anymore though.”
“No! I still...want to.” He said, probably a bit too quickly for Top’s liking. “I just didn’t know you were setting things up already.”
“What can I say, I work fast.” Top kissed Magnet’s cheek again playfully. “This one is starting to grow on me too anyways. I hear too many good things about him.” He said as he let go of Magnet and dropped back loosely against me.
“Ha, well, prepare to be disappointed.” I half laughed as Top scooted himself up a bit to put his head in the centre of my lap.
“Don’t say that, P. You know you’re super awesome, and you’re really smart, and you’re such a good leader.” Magnet flaunted as he tried to encourage me. “I mean, and you’re a total fuckin’ babe too.”
“What! Pfft! Ha, no way! I mean...maybe the first bit.” Great, now the two of them had me blushing. “I’m not attractive.”
“Um excuse me? Look at you! You’re practically a diety!” Top complimented as he reached up to touch my face. “You are so intimidating, and serious. I wouldn’t want to piss you off.”
“Me either, to bad he’s just a big softy.” Magnet teased as he finally shifted Top away so he could lean in closer to me as well.
“Hey! I am not!” I huffed as I crossed my arms. Top’s hands quickly found their way back down my sides though to tickle me. “Hey! Not allowed!” I tried to hold my laughter in with no success.
“Aww! He’s to ticklish.” Top cooed.
“Yep! A big tough guy with some cute little soft spots.”
“Cute? Really?”
“Of course. The cutest.” Magnet corrected before tackling me back down onto my bed. I wheezed as the two practically pile drove me into the pillows.
I guess this was just my life now. At least for the next few weeks. I might as well make the most of it before I had to go back to work. These last few months had just been really, helpful. I guess I learned a lot, and made a lot of new friends. Soon everything would go back to normal though, or as normal as it could be given the circumstances.
“Um, can I. Can I kiss you two?” I asked as I looked down at the two who were practically beaming up at me. Before I got a response Top had already swooped in and gave me a raspberry on the cheek. “Eww!” I laughed.
“Well, of course you can...I wouldn’t mind...” Magnet was still blushing a bit as I sat myself back up a bit.
I pulled Magnet in closer as he tried to lean back. Top was already snuggled in right under my chin though.
“Kiss him like you mean it.” Top encouraged. Apparently content with the set up. This felt kinda weird with a group. I thought this was only supposed to be intimate between two people. I guess I’d get used to it.
Magnet leaned in and gently pressed his lips to mine. He was so delicate! His hands slowly found their way up to my jaw as he leaned in passionately. I tried to just follow his lead as he started working his lips against mine. He bit my bottom lip as Top laughed; I must have looked absolutely useless.
“This is your first kiss, isn’t it?” Magnet asked as he leaned back before lying down beside me again.
“Mmm, yes. I’m sorry I’m not better at it.”
“Hey, you don’t have to apologize.” Magnet said as he gently ran his hand through my hair. “That just means you need some practice.”

Chapter Text

28.

“Magnet, good morning.” I almost jumped at the presence of the voice behind me. I was trying to rub the smears of Pharaoh’s make up off of my face still as I made my way down to Dad’s lab.
“Shadow, maker where have you been?” I asked as I quickly pulled my second-in-command into a light hug. “You haven’t checked in in days.”
“Apologies. I’ve had a tag along for the last few days. Protoman has been cruising around the fortress.”
“Oh!...That might be a problem. Does Dad know?”
“No, it didn’t seem urgent. He’s been trying to get to Kalinka though.”
Danger! Red flag!
“What do you mean?”
“He has been persistent in trying to kidnap her back. To ruin Wily’s plan.”
“...I mean, would that be so bad? Then Cossack and the others could just run home?”
“You have met Wily, right? He’d loose his mind on them. He’d only take her back to Light and Megaman anyways, then tell them what happened. Then, of course, wage an attack on the fortress.”
“He’s been here? Like, in here?”
“Yes...he’s aquired the teleportation co-ordinates. My apologies again.” Shadow looked, more somber than usual.
“It’s not your fault he got them.” I defended as Shadow grabbed my hand quickly and bit his lip.
A signal that he wanted to go, and that he wasn’t comfortable here.
“Take me where you want to be.”
I was surprisingly used to the falling feeling of Shadow’s teleportation trick. Well, not really teleporting, I knew what that felt like. More like, relocation.
I had no idea where we ended up. The roof of a building somewhere. Shadow had clearly been spending some time here though. I didn’t think the whole sleeping bag/hammock get up was his style, but I guess it was comfortable.
“I gave it to him.” Shadow huffed as he looked around quickly before beginning to rumage through a cardboard box of file folders.
“YOU WHAT!”
“I...I was weak. I’m sorry.” Shadow seemed really upset, which of course meant he was really REALLY upset.
I kneeled down beside him and put my one arm around his waist as he evaded eye contact and continued to flip through the folders. “He said he wanted to spend some time together; that he liked hanging out with me. I guess you can’t believe every scoundrel out there.”
“Did you talk a lot?”
“We did, after we hired him to do the kidnapping. He seemed, I don’t know...pleasent?” He huffed as he handed me a file. I peaked inside quickly at the contents. Schematics for Plantman’s design, probably the same copy Plant had given Pharaoh.
“You were friends?” I continued to prod.
“For a while. Yes. I’d say we were friends at least...It’s clear now that he had other intentions.”
“Hey, I’m sorry it didn’t work out Shadow. I really am.”
“No, I should be the one apologizing for being so gullible.” He sounded a bit angry as he handed me two more files, one for Wood and the other one had Star and Crystal’s schematics for their barriers. “It has been a long time since I’ve been that close with someone else...it hurts to know it was all manipulation.” He said as he leaned against my side gently for a moment.
Shadow was never one to spew his emotions out over something, so he was clearly pretty hurt over this. It’s settled, I’d just have to kick Protoman’s ass myself for toying with Shadow. Shadow wasn’t exactly one to get comfortable around strangers either, that jerk must have really been playing it up for him. Poor guy.
“It’s in the past now. We’ll just have to knock him out and wipe his memory banks.” I responded cheerily, which at least got a bit of a laugh from Shadow.
“That seems to be a good solution. Hold onto those, I want to take them to Cossack.” He said as he stood up, helping me back up to my feet.
“Why do you have all of this paper stuff anyways? Seems pretty, damageable.”
“Oh, it isn’t mine. This is where Blu-Protoman spends his nights, he’s out during the day though.”
“We’re STEALING-“
“He stole all of this from us already. I just didn’t want to waste the paper to print these off for Cossack.” He said, barely phased. “Would you like to help me burn the rest of his possessions?”
“Um...that might be a bit too much for me in one day. I think you’d enjoy it more than I would anyways.”
“Fair enough, I’ll be back shortly. Will you deliver those to Dr. Cossack for me? He wanted to see them so he could help Skull learn how to use his barrier.” Shadow explained as he grabbed for what looked like a small photo album and ripped it down the spine.
“Of course. If you want to talk more, I’ll be here.” I said shyly, I really didn’t want to upset him anymore than he already was.
“I know...You should wipe Pharaoh’s mascara off your face before you go to visit Cossack as well.”
“Damn it! Where is it?” I admitted defeat as Shadow gently wiped the smear off of my chin. “How...”
“Were you getting frisky with Pharaoh?” Shadow teased, in his teasing know-it-all voice.
“It was Top’s idea...to be fair.”
“And you agreed to it.”
“OF COURSE! I wasn’t going to turn that down! Have you seen Pharaoh! His body is like a greek god!” Shadow chuckled lightly before turning back to his work. “Anyways, enjoy yourself.” I gave one last wave before heading back home.
I teleported back into my room to find Top sat back on my bed.
“Oh! There you are love. I was wondering where you got off to.” Top cooed as I leaned down to give him a kiss quickly.
“Sorry, I had to go with Shadow to talk.” I apologized as Top shifted up to sit cross legged.
“Is he doing alright?”
“No...not really. I don’t want to gossip though.” I sighed as I shuffled through the papers quickly. “I have to run down to Cossack’s lab real quick. I’ll be back soon though.”
“Okay. Can you ask him about Pharaoh’s parts?” Top said nonchalantly, which made me back pedal a bit.
“Excuse me?”
“Pharaoh was worried that his parts don’t work. I want him to be ready for this weekend.”
“Oh maker...no. There’s no way in hell I’m going to waltz in and ask Cossack is Pharaoh is fully equipped. Why can’t you just check him out?”
“Can I?”
“As long as you don’t enjoy yourself too much.” I winked back before closing the door behind myself.
Welp, now Top was going to bang Pharaoh. A part of me really couldn’t even comprehend what was actually happening between the three of us. I couldn’t believe Pharaoh was so on board with all of it either. I hope Top wasn’t just trying to manipulate him to surprise me. Then again, Top did say he wanted to see Pharaoh ontop of me...so...I guess some of the pleasure was for Pharaoh as well.
I knocked politely on Cossack’s lab door before letting myself in. Cossack was surprisingly absent though. Bright was sat at one of the workbenches though with what looked to be a little mechanical bird.
“Oh, hi Bright. Is your Dad around?” I asked as I took a seat beside him at the bench.
“He’s still in bed. Well, Ring and Skull are passed out in his bed and he’s reading.” Bright clarified.
“Ah, understandable.” I nodded. “So, what are you working on?”
“I...well, I figured is Flash and Snake could make their own bots then I could figure out how to do it myself too.” He said as he held up the un-rigged frame of the bird,
“That’s really awesome, Bright.”
I could probably ask Bright is Pharaoh was fully equipped...would that be weird though? They were really more like brothers than my line was. That might be too weird.
“I have to admit, I’m going to miss this place.” Bright sighed as he went back to his tinkering.
“Pfft, I don’t think you will. Not once you’re home.” I tried to brush off, but he looked concerned.
“That’s the thing though. Once we go home then everyone’s going to leave again for work. At least we’re all together here.” He sighed and shook his head. “It will be nice to be back in our own house though. It is a bit crowded here.”
“True that.” Bright was really chill, I wish I’d had time to talk to him more. “Well, I’m going to go and bug your Dad. Is there anything I can get you on my way back?”
“Oh!...um, no, i’m fine. But thanks for asking.”
“Anything, Lite-Bright. See you around.” I patted his shoulder before I got up to leave.
Cossack’s room was only the next one down from the lab so it didn’t take me too long to walk there. I knocked lightly and waited for a response.
“Come in!”
I slowly opened the door to find Cossack reading away at some stat print outs and Ring and Skull passed out at the end of the bed cuddled into each other. Aww, I loved new bots, they always did the cutest things.
“Sorry to intrude, Shadow thought you might want these. He said they’d help with Skull’s barrier.” I offered him the stack of files as he scooted over a bit so I could sit beside him.
“Oh! Perfect, thank you.” He flipped through the files quickly before setting them of the nightstand. “Hey, can I...ask you something?”
“Um, of course. Anything.” Well, not anything, but he could ask.
“What was it like fighting Rock?” He asked, leaning forward with intrigue.
“It...it wasn’t fun. If that’s what you’re implying.” I sat down and prepared myself for the long story. I knew someone was going to ask eventually. “It’s horrible. Well, fighting him was probably the easiest part. It’s the waiting for him to get to you that really psyches you out. There are things...thoughts, that just get to you. That, like, maybe you’re not good enough, maybe you’ve let everyone down...maybe you’ll never see any of your brothers again because he’s going to properly destroy you.”
“He wouldn’t though.”
“I know that now, but I didn’t before then...He let my line off easy, he still considers us like half brothers. Light probably would have prefered if he just got rid of us.” I sighed as all of my memories that I’d tried to keep suppressed came flooding back. “I had to watch my brothers fall apart before he even got to me. He’s really good at talking, but when you have orders all of his talking just sounds like some fantasy that you can’t have. I had to fight him after I’d watched him tear through three of my brothers already, and I knew I wasn’t going to be any differnet to him. Just another Wily bot that needed to be dealt with.”
“He told me you were probably one of the strongest bots he’d faced. He was scared to fight you.”
“I know...he told me that too. I couldn’t say anything though until my defeat was imminent. Our programming locks up when we’re in combat mode. We’re aware of everything but unable to do anything about it. Those are the only orders we’re hard wired to take from Wily.” I had done pretty good so far with bot crying, but I could tell it was coming.
“So, what’s it like after?” Cossack asked softly as he let me lean in against him. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“It’s fine...After everything...it’s bad. It’s just really bad here. We at least had the second line to help us, but they must have been a wreck.” I snuggled in against Cossack as he pulled he in closer. “I couldn’t even look at my brothers when we were finally back online. As far as I was concerned I had failed them. We lost and I couldn’t keep them safe. I couldn’t even make sure we’d still be useful; I thought for sure that Wily was just going to turn us off. Dad was so mad too...he told us we were all worthless to him, and that we were just as bad as the others. And that we’d never be able to do anything right because we were still just dumb Light bots trying to pass for combat bots.”
It really hurt hearing that from Dad, and he absolutely meant every word of it. He still thought my line was just a bunch of Light bots, but at least we were *his* bunch of Light bots. He was happy to have us now, and he was horrified of the thought of Light stealing us away and changing our coding. Frankly, I was pretty terrified of that too. Being taken away from my brothers and reprogrammed to forget them...or seeing one of my brothers forget about me and all of the shit we’ve been through together. Light was a monster; I had a hard time believing that anyone could be worse than Wily, but alas.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that from him.”
“But he was right; we are at least partially Light bots. Honestly, that’s probably the only reason we all lived through that fight, because Rock would have felt bad for killing us. I guess I have to give him credit for that, but he ruined us...I really got to see how horrible I was, and how big of a failure I was. I had to pick up the pieces that he left behind of my line and try and get the others to even look at each other! I mean, thank lord I had Shadow to help me, I could not have a better second in command. He was really good at getting me out of my dark place and motivating me to be their for everyone else. It’s just so, frustrating, and overwhelming to know that you’ve trained your entire life for one thing and then absolutely get your ass handed to you by a lab assistant! It’s demeaning...”
“...Megaman sounds like a cunt.”
Pfft!
I looked down to the foot of the bed as Ring peaked back up at us. Oops, I guess I’d woken him up.
“Pbh! Ha! Ring! Language!” Cossack stricked as I tried to hide the fact I was laughing.
“...Well, he sounds like it...I don’t know how you guys lost to him.”
“Me either, really. He...well he’s really good at throwing you off your focus. He gets you to lower your defences, and kinda lulls you into a false sense of security. He talked me down and got me confused, he took advantage of my hesitation and pretty much disabled me with one hit. He’s a clean fighter if nothing else.”
“...good to know.” Ring nodded as he stretched and sat up.
“You guys won’t really have to fight him though, you just have to kinda pretend? He won’t hurt you like he did to us.”
“...but he might.”
“He wouldn’t, not to your brothers. He knows your family.” I sighed.
“Well, he knew you a bit too, didn’t he?”
“He did, but that’s different.” I tried to explain with no success. “We work for Wily now, they didn’t want us back.”
“...Rightfully so, Wily ruined you and your brothers.”
“Okay, Ring. That’s enough.” Cossack tried to interrupt but I was already on the defensive.
“What do you know about my brothers?”
“Short of reprogramming the lot of you, you’d all be useless. Built to work and taught to fight. It just doesn’t work.”
“And you think you’ll be any different.”
“No, but I’m at least willing to loose all of this and start over. You’re whole line is ruined unless you all agree. Not that you would, you’re too emotionally attached.” I felt like Ring was almost mocking me at this point. “You are to preoccupied with these silly visions of grandeur. All of this line leader stuff is pointless as well. Maybe if you were a better ‘line-leader’ then your brothers would have been-“
Before I could really tell what I was doing I had lunged at Ring and pushed him off of the end of the bed, pinning him to the ground below me.
“You aren’t allowed to judge my skill as a leader, baby. You don’t know ANYTHING about my family OR what happened!” I was surprised when Ring got a leg up and kicked me back in the stomach.
“Ring! Stop it! You two please don’t fight!” Cossack pleaded as Ring grabbed for my throat cables.
“I’m not a baby! I could do a better job leading my line than you could yours already and I’m only three days old!” Ring yelled as I slapped at him to keep him away. “You’ve gotten into Pharaoh’s head with all this line leader bullshit! You’ve ruined him for his intended purpose!”
“I did not! He still want to work but now he at least knows how to take care of you and your brothers when you have to fight!” He managed to scratch me across the face as I yelled at him. “Maybe if you weren’t such a little shit he’d care about you more and want to spend time with you instead of me!”
Okay, that was probably a bit too far. That was actually pretty mean, I didn’t want to make him cry. I guess this was fair though, he was new and still trying to figure out his emotions.
“I don’t care what he thinks of me now! I can still be changed! I don’t have to be this, and I don’t want to be some broken combat want-to-be like you! I’m better than that!”
“Ring, please don’t fight with him.” I heard softly from above us. Skull was peaking over the edge of the bed. “You’re being a douche bag.”
Which really just ended up fueling him to get at me harder. I’d had enough of indulging this though and used my
magnetic field to push him away up against the opposite wall. I got up slowly and brushed myself off.
“Magnet, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know he’d act like that.” Cossack said in a bit of a panic as he held Skull in place. I ignored him as I walked up to Ring as he struggled to get free. I pushed him back harder.
“Listen to me, Ringman. You are better than me, that’s true. But I don’t see you doing anything useful with that.” I said as I got right up in his face and forced him to look me in the eyes. “You can make fun of me all you want, but don’t you dare harass my family. Understood?” I waited for a response and when I didn’t get one I socked him in the gut, hard. “Understood?!”
“...yes, I understand.” He said meekly as I dropped him to the floor.
“You could never be in charge because you clearly don’t care about your own safety let alone the safety of your family. Talk to me again when you figure that out, maybe by then you’ll have learned a thing or two about respect.” Ring was hunched over on the floor gasping for breath still as I turned and made to leave. “Don’t, take my side Cossack. Listen to what your son says.” I scolded as Skull even pulled away from me.
Great, how was I going to tell Pharaoh that I kicked the shit out of his little brother. I resisted the urge to massage my temples as I showed myself out. Apparently our little misunderstanding had gathered quite the curios crowd as well.
I was greated by a couple of my brothers and a handful of the Cossack boys who all looked pretty concerned.
“It’s alright, Ring and I just had a bit of a misunderstanding. You can all return to your normal business.” I dismissed calmly as Snake immediately grabbed for my scratched cheek.
“Come with me. Everyone else needs to leave them alone.” Snake clarified as everyone started to discipate.
I obediently followed Snake back to his room and lied down on his operating dolly. At least Snake didn’t ask questions.
“You’re in over your head with that one.” Snake said, and I was about to rebuttal bit he interupted me again. “I think he needed the reality check; but you could have at least told him that his family will still love him just the way he is if he isn’t a little bitch about it.”
“...You programmed them to swear, didn’t you?”
“It gets the feelings across faster.” Snake shrugged innocently. “Ring needs the support though. He’s not as confident as he seems. He’s really self...critical. You probably made him cry.”
“Good, he deserves a bit of reflection. He was insulting all of us.”
“Well, he’s supposed to.” Snake said as he rubbed his hand over my cheek to trace the marks.
“Why?”
“So he doesn’t get attatched.” Snake said in all seriousness. “He’ll be fine leaving here, and hopefully he’ll help the other recover back to their normal lives after all of this too.”
I guess that was okay.
I stayed quiet while Snake filled in the shallow lines across my face. I probably could have followed up with the ‘you’re family will still love you’ in all honesty. I’d have to apologize when he came to talk to me. Hopefully he’d learn his place here quickly.
If he was going to be a little shit then I was going to treat him like a baby. When he grows up then maybe I’ll be able to hold a conversation with him without wanting to knock him out.
“So how are you going to tell Pharaoh you beat the shit out of his second in command?”
“Fuck me.”

......................................................................

Chapter Text

‘What are you doing?!’
‘Why would you say that?!’
‘You don’t really mean that? Do you?’
WHAT DID THEY KNOW! Why did they care what I thought? Why did they care now?
SO WHAT?! What does it matter if I ‘wasn’t turning out like I should have’? I could still be reprogrammed if he really didn’t like how I was right now. If they couldn’t see how big of a shit show this was turning into then I didn’t want to remember any of this! It wouldn’t even take that much, to wipe my memory and start fresh. No hastle at all really. Maybe then I’d be the quiet, well behaved baby they all expected me to be!
“You seem tense.”
I whipped around from the training dummy I was facing to find Metal standing behind me.
“Mm...Wily bot.” I huffed as I turned back to the dummy.
“Cossack bot.” Metal stepped up beside me and summoned in one of the free training dummies.
He wasn’t in his armour, so he clearly wasn’t planning on training. I hope he hadn’t come to try and change my mind.
“Can I ask you something?” Metal questioned as he play kicked the dummy a bit.
“...I suppose.” That doesn’t mean I had to answer.
“Do you know how much you hurt your Dad’s feelings?” He said, looking directly at me.
“So what? If he doesn’t like me then he can change me.” I huffed as I tried to watch Metal’s form. I was still getting used to this training stuff anyways.
“But what if he doesn’t want to?”
“That’s his problem then.”
“Fair enough.” Metal delivered a hard kick to the dummy that sent it back against the far wall of the arena.
I tried to copy him to keep my stature up, but the kick I managed was fairly lackluster; knocking the dummy down and then watching it rock back upright. I watched as Metal summoned the dummy back and set it up infront of himself.
We practiced in silence for a while. I think he understood that I wasn’t in the mood to talk, but at least I could watch his form and try to figure it out for myself.
The Wily bots were just so much stronger than I was. Metal continuously sent the practice dummy across the room whereas I could hardly knock it back a few feet. It was frustrating to see just how pathetic I was compared to him. Then again, it only made his defeat that much more questionable.
“How was your fight, you know...against Megaman?” I tried to ask casually, but it probably come off more curious than I would have hoped.
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because you shouldn’t have lost.” I rebuttaled.
He puffed weakly with a laugh. He didn’t seem impressed. At least I’d have the chance to fight him one on one without him pulling some cheap tactic on me.
“I lost because I wasn’t worried about myself; I was worried about what would happen to my family if I failed.” He shared. “I was the first to go out of my line. I practically handed Rock the victory after he got ahold of my weapon.”
“...it seems like this family stuff comes up a lot.”
“It does. Because we take care of each other. With a maker like Wily you need to take care of each other.”
“If it was just you then, do you think you could have done it?”
“No way.”
“Why not?”
“Who would I have learned from? Who would I practice with? Who would I be protecting?”
Oh...hmm. That was a good point. But then why did he loose? By all that sense he should have wiped the floor with Megaman.
“So why did you let him win?” I rephrased in an attempt to coax out the truth. I think he recognized my tactic though.
“I didn’t *let him* win. It was a fair fight. He just had more on the line to protect. He caught me distracted; it was just bad timing...” he sighed. “Probably for the best anyways.”
“So why are you still online?” My big mouth asked before I could stop myself. Fuck. I braced myself for a kick to the face.
“I...I don’t know truthfully. A part of me thinks that it’s out of Wily’s pride for his creations, but I failed him. Another part of me thinks it’s out of mercy, but I’d be better off deactivated and without having to face the consequences.”
“...I shouldn’t have asked.”
“You shouldn’t have, but it’s fine.” He added. “So why are you still online?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why do you continue to train and prepare? It’s not like you have anything at stake. And you’ve made it clear that you don’t want to be here. So why are you still online?” He tested.
“...I still don’t understand. Cossack wouldn’t deactive me, I’d have to put myself offline.”
“You could.”
“But why would I?!” I panicked a bit at the suggestion.
“So you do care, about yourself at least.” He smiled softly, apparently having won some small victory. “You don’t want to be reprogrammed and changed to be what Cossack wants you to be.”
“I...I never said that I didn’t care...did I?” I asked, assuming he’d listened in on the whole fight Magnet and I had had.
“You did. You said you could still be changed.”
“Okay but not completely!”
“But you could be. Cossack could decide you’re turning out to be a real piece of work and just wipe everything. You even said it would be easy, and that you wouldn’t miss any of this.”
“No I didn’t!”
“You did.” Metal nodded slowly.
Oh I did say that...didn’t I.
“Just because I could still be changed doesn’t mean I want to be...” I admitted quietly.
“Why not? You said you’d be so much better off if you didn’t remember any of this?”
“...I don’t know.” I sighed, coming up with nothing.
“It’s okay if you don’t have an answer yet. But you shouldn’t throw that kind of talk around. Cossack’s probably thinking about changing *something* in you, at least to make you less...ornery.”
“I’m not ornery.”
“Confrontational.” Metal corrected himself.
Maybe I was turning out really shitty. I hadn’t even talked to Metal that much and he was already reading me like a book. “Maybe if you were better at the actual confrontation part then you’d be better off.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I demanded as he laughed.
“Well, first off it means don’t be picking fights with line leaders. You’re lucky Magnet didn’t tear you in half with the way you were talking about his family.” He joked, which made my gut turn. “Quick absolutely would have sliced you in half, that would have made changing your I.C. chip mandatory.”
“...can we not talk about that?”
“Why? Does it make you uncomfortable knowing how easily replaced you are?” Metal spat back with a bit of vinegar.
It does, I decided. It does make me REALLY uncomfortable thinking about how easy it would be for them to wreck me. And how glad Cossack would be to have a fresh start on my I.C.
I let the silence hang as I summoned my boomerangs to twirl around my fingers. Metal didn’t seem like he was going to apologize for that last statement either, so I guess he’d made his point.
So what if I didn’t want to be completely replaced?! I mean, Cossack would probably like to change a few things about me, but not everything, right? Maybe if I wasn’t acting like a little shit...I probably deserved to be wiped at this point. Everyone would be better off with someone completely different.
“Hey, come ‘er.” Metal said softly as
I turned back to him.
I don’t exactly know when the tears started, but they were out full force now. Metal pulled me into a tight hug with one of his hands on the back of my head. I slowly let my arms creep around his sides and pulled him in closer.
“I know...It’s scary to think about. But maybe now you see why your Dad was so upset? He thinks you don’t care at all. Not about yourself, or the rest of your family.”
“...I do. It’s just...this is embarrassing.” I huffed, pressing my face into his soft sweater.
“What, crying?”
“Yes...”
“There’s nothing wrong with crying. Especially around people who care about you.”
“...They’d be better off if they changed me. I wouldn’t be, but everyone else would be...” I huffed, finally finding the phrasing to my problem. “I’m not what he wants...”
“How do you know that?” Metal asked as we rocked in place gently.
“I don’t know! I just! Look at me! I’m not what he wanted, and they deserve someone better than...this.”
“Then BE someone better than this.” Metal encouraged as his hands massaged through my hair. “Take what you’ve learned already, and decide to be better than this. You can always grow from where you are now into the type of bot you want to be.”
That was probably the best advice I was ever going to get. And it came from a Wily bot, evidently. Maker, why was I doing this to myself? Why was I doing this to Cossack? I could be so much better than this, and yet here I was having to learn big life lesson while bawling my eyes out. The fact that Cossack didn’t turn me off the second I started to get mouthy was proof enough that he didn’t want to change me.
“Do you want to go and talk to your Dad?” Metal asked queitly as he loosened his grip.
“....hhhhhhh, not yet...I need to decide how I’m going to apologize first.” I huffed a bit as I reluctantly let go of Metal to regain my composure.
“Okay, well, if you want me to go with you I can do that too.” He offered.
“Yeah, that might be nice.”
He laughed a bit before he shiffled his way behind me and put his hands on my hips. He quickly called the training dummy back into position as he tried to rearrange me.
“Come on, let’s get your form down then. At least you’ll have something to be proud of when you go back then.” He half teased as I followed his light readjustments. “Center of gravity low, look where you want your momentum to go, follow through with your force. Don’t stop when you hit, just keep the pressure on.” Metal said as he turned my head to face the dummy playfully.
“Okay, got it. Carry through. Balance.” I breathed as I tried to collect my focus back and make him proud.
I connected with the midsection on the dummy and sent it hopping back a couple paces. That was so much better than what I’d been doing before. I must have lit up with the successful hit, because Metal was smiling back at me.
“See? Easy once you get the form down. Now you focus on increasing your power.” He laughed ad he brought the dummy back. “Again.”
What had I done to deserve Metal’s help, or his concern even. I hadn’t been particularly nice to him when we first met honestly. So I didn’t really understand why he was so concerned. Or that he’d even bothered to come and help.
“Are you going to go out with Pharaoh and the others for their birthday thing?” Metal asked as I successfully sent the dummy a few feet farther than the last kick.
“I...don’t know. I don’t want to be a bother.” I admitted. “It’s really for them, they’re the ones celebrating.”
“I’m not much of a party bot either.” Metal said as he brought the dummy back again. “Neither is Shadow honestly, we usually dip together and do something for us. Parties are like, our un-official days off from being the family consultants.”
“What do you usually go do?”
“Nothing special. Usually a supply run into Monsteropolis...sometimes we go and haggle some anti-roboticists. Sometimes we just listen to the police scanner and see what’s happening, and then go and watch that go down. That’s probably something you’d prefer to do over going to their party tomorrow.”
That did sound tempting. There was also a lower chance that I’d have to talk to Magnet is I was with Metal. Shadow might be a little pissed at me for picking a fight with his line leader, but hopefully Metal would talk him down for me.
“That does sound, nice.”
“Do you want to come with us tomorrow then? I mean, I still have to make sure Crash is okay with me dipping on him tomorrow, but he knows parties aren’t really my thing.”
I should probably ask Skull, and Cossack, before I committed to Metal’s plans too.
“I’ll have to ask Co-my Dad, if it’s okay.” I still had to work on calling him Dad.
“Oh right, yeah. That’s probably a good call. Tell him that I said I’d take care of you while we’re out, okay? I think he trusts me enough to keep you out of trouble.” Metal smirked as me and nudged my shoulder a touch.
“I will...will you come with me to apologize now? I don’t want them worrying about me.”
“Of course! Come on then.”

......................................................................

Chapter Text

TODAY’S THE DAY!
I snuck out of bed early to head to the kitchen. It was probably about 4 in the morning, so I really didn’t expect anyone else to be up. I mean, besides Shadow, who was in the kitchen already waiting for the kettle to boil to make Cossack’s and Wily’s coffee’s I assumed. I guess the Doctor’s were early risers too. I stopped quickly to give Shadow a squeeze, which he returned affectionately.
‘Are you sure you’re okay?’ I whispered. He smelled oddly like burnt things? Like old campfire almost.
‘I’m sure. Metal and I are taking Ring out today. You know parties aren’t really our thing.’ He whispered back softly as I smooched his forehead.
‘I didn’t think you’d want to stick around. No worries. Have fun babysitting Ring.’ I teased as he chuckled.
‘Have fun with Pharaoh. You really shouldn’t let Maggie walk around covered in his make up stains.’ Shadow teased back as I no doubt blushed pink. ‘He explained, it’s fine.’
‘Please don’t go gossipin’ about it, please. Especially around Ring. Magnet kicked the shit out of him yesterday.’
‘I heard, and I won’t.’
‘Good, have fun then.’
I grabbed the *special* bottle I’d been storing under the kitchen sink and grabbed two glasses from the cupboard. I’d had a couple of the other ask what was in it, but I just told them to keep their hands off of it. Robot alcohol was a lucury item, and I wasn’t about to watch Spark try and stomach the taste of it.
I closed the door to Magnet’s room quietly as I put the present down on our nightstand. I purposefully crawled back into bed clumsily and flooped down beside my beautiful boyfriend. It took a second for his eues to open reluctantly, but at least he didn’t seem too peeved off.
“G’mornin’...” He wheezed quietly, but I was already making my move.
I hooked my leg through the middle of his legs and grabbed him around the waist softly.
“Guess what?” I teased.
“Mm...that you’ve fallen incredibly lovesick with me? And you find me extra attractive today?” Magnet mocked back as his hands migrated down my back.
“Ha, no. You know I’m already lovesick for you. They still haven’t found a cure, but they are testing some new, treatments.” I egged as my hand slid from his waist to between his legs. “Mostly one-on-one sessions, but they’ve been discussing the benefits of increased session sizes.”
“Pfft!” Okay, that was cheesy. “You’re ridiculous. How was Pharaoh yesterday anyways? You were already asleep by the time I got back, so I didn’t get to ask.”
“You would not BELIEVE this man! He works absolutely fine; needs a bit of practice, but I’m sure we can break him in.”
“Aw, don’t say it like that. That sounds dirty.” Magnet nudged me a bit. “Try to save it for tonight, you can’t waste all of your good one-liners before then.”
He quickly shuffled me off of himself and flopped the blankets ontop of me. He stretched and swung hims legs over the side of the bed.
“Oh, what’s this?” He had spotted the neatly displayed bottle on the table.
“I figured we could start the celebration a little bit early~ That’s why I planned this thing to be a lunchtime party.” I tried to put on my best lustful look, but Magnet was already beet red.
“Oh! Um...okay. I have to do my walk around....how about you pour us both a drink, and I’ll met you back here in a couple minutes~?” He leaned back and kissed me slowly.
I put my hands to the side of his face and tried to pull him deeper into our exchange, but he still seemed pretty determined to do his walk around. We parted and he quickly got up and left.
Now the race was on.
I peeled out of last night pyjama’s and hopped over to the closet where I’d stached the new box of lingerie I’d been waiting to crack out. The panties and stockings slid on quickly as I tried to pop the bootleg champagne at the same time. I filled our two glasses and put the bottle back on the nightstand for later. The last thing to go on was the light orange and white corset with the deep royal blue ribbons up the back. Of course, the colour scheme matched the whole set, but this was really the statement piece.
I slid it on and fitted it up against my chest nicely before grabbing the sturdy ribbons around the back. Now I just had to remember how the lady at the store showed me how to tighten it myself. Thank maker she didn’t make it anymore embarrassing than the purchase already was, but it seemed like she’d done the demonstration often enough. She made it look a lot easier than it actually was.
I was only about half way down the lace when Magnet came back, looking particularly hot and bothered already.
“Oh!”
“Hey! You can’t look yet!” I whinned as he quickly turned to face the wall. “You were supposed to take longer.” I laughed.
“To be fair you were the one who seemed all ready to kick this off.” I could here him laughing too as I gave up with the lace.
“Pfft, okay fine. Come here and help me do this up big guy~”
I loved seeing him all blushy like this. He was always so shy when he was being romantic. I always wondered if I really made him that nervous, but I’d trust him with my life. I guess I was a bit surprised too that he’d actually brought up this three-way thing in the first place.
“How...do I do this?” I felt Magnet pull on the ends of the ribbons, pulling me back a bit.
“No, not like that! You gotta do it like you’re lacing up skates. One loop at a time; but you have to pull it tight.” I half scolded as I felt his hands trace up my back.
“Won’t I just have to take this all off of you later~?” He asked smuggly as he began pulling the ribbon through.
“That’s the point!” I huffed as he laughed lightly.
It went a lot faster having someone else lace up the back. Granted, I probably could have practiced a bit before hand to get the technique down. Magnet finished the bottom up with a bow before he swept me off my feet bridal style.
“I love it when you get all dressed up.” He was practically beaming as he pushed his nose against mine lovingly. Our foreheads bumped as he attempted to lay the both of us out on the bed, but he ended up just kind of crumpling on top of me.
“I know, that’s why I got it. Now are you going to kiss me or what?”
His mouth ungracefully mashed against mine as he tried to hide a playful laugh. His hands gently caressed my face as he sat himself over my waist and leaned in. It had been a while since Magnet and I had time to get really frisky, and if his eagerness was any preview for tonight then I’m sure I’d be in for a double feature.

...

I groggily opened my eyes as the alarm clock beside me started going off. I swatted at it a couple of times before I felt the body beside me roll over top of me and turn it off. Needle had insisted I spend the night; and I wasn’t going to complain. Except now, because he was crushing me.
“Morning love.” Needle kissed my forehead lightly as his weight pressed down on my inner compartments.
“Needle I’m dying, you’re going to crush me!”
“Sorry! Sorry!” Needle apologized quickly as he sat up against the headboard.
“Damn right you are. Now I have to smother you with kisses!”
I loved hearing his laugh. It was so hearty and genuine! Even when my lips were pressed to his neck demanding revenge.
“Maker, you’re like a little leech!” Needle wrapped his arms around my midsection and pulled me up onto his lap.
“I’m gunna suck the life outta you!” I teased as he picked me up. “Hey!”
“Nope, not allowed. You’re comin’ with me ya big cutie!”
Needle hobbled over to the closet and tried to swing me over his shoulder. Which his did successfully manage, but almost threw me all the way over.
“Ha ha, very funny.” I tried to pull myself out of his grasp, but he had a vice grip around my legs holding me in place. I wasn’t going anywhere.
I surrendered into tracing the tattoo’s on his back. They really were lovely, and they only made his muscle definition look even better. The tattoo artist that did mine said it was the first one he’d done for a robot; and he wasn’t even sure how it would turn out. They did a really awesome job though. The fan of playing card had all of the specifics for each of his brothers. A little pizazz that would spark a relation. I guess they were more like tarot cards? Like, Gemini’s was easy, the decal on the bottom of the cards said ‘Two of Swords’ it featured two identical looking medieval knights weilding two dazzling glass swords that were crossed over each other like they were mid-strike. Needle said that most of the two cards meant balance, or that you had reached a stalemate; other times it could mean the ending of a conflict. Apparently Gemini was usually the one to end disputes between the group, at least....when he wasn’t fighting with himself. Shadow, likewise, was represented by the card ‘Queen of Swords’. Needle told me a bit about that card too. She is meant to represent a role model of sorts; more of someone who would provide some type of guidance. Someone who you respect and look up to. She also represents pain, loss, and seperation...which apparently Shadow has had to deal with a lot. The picture on the card really didn’t strike me as Shadow though. It was a woman, draped in a deep blue gown and a crown made of stars. She had long silky black hair that draped out behind her and seemed to morph into the aurora’s that made up the background of the frame. I knew Shadow’s whole build had something to do with space, but I’d never really given it much though.
“What...hm, what tarot card do you think would be most like me?” I asked as I continued tracing the night veiled lady.
“What?”
“Like your brothers, they all have a card, what would mine be?”
“Hmm...let me think. It’s been a while since I’ve really looked....” Needle said as he finally let me down and pulled out a deck of cards from the top of the closet. “Sit down, i’ll show you.”
I eagerly hopped back up to the bed as Needle shuffled through the cards quick, looking for the one that matched me. He stopped on a card and looked up at me; I tried to shoot him a smile, but he shook his head and kept fanning through. Finally, he settled on another card and handed it to me face down.
“That one.”
I flipped the card over to find a drawing of a younger looking boy holding a long staff as he say with his feet dangling in a river. He was looking down at a reflection of himself, or maybe be was looking at the fish that were swimming around his bare feet.
“The page of wands?”
“Usually represented by a younger or youthful individual. Someone who still looks at life with a child-like wonder.” Needle smiled as he snuggled himself back up against his pillows.
“You do remember the conversation we had last night, when I said I was almost three years older than you?” I teased.
“I said child-like! Not a literal child!” He defended as I flooped out on his stomach.
“Just kidding, what else?”
“Well, the page is also characterized by being adventurous, and ambitions. Energetic too, but I think that part is less you.”
“Well, I think I’m plenty adventurous! I got a tattoo last week!” I half boasted as Needle’s hand traced down to my now unbandaged hip.
“And we go and raise hell in the city all the time now.” Needle mocked. “The page also represents new beginnings and depending on which order it’s drawn in means that a new step in your journey is about to begin.” Aww damn, I loved it when Needle blushed like that.”
“Well, I’d love to start off the next stage of my life with you.” I really cheesed up, which only increased the pink blush on Needle’s cheeks.
I rearranged myself so I could plant a few soft kisses on Needle’s equally as soft cheeks. He pulled me in tightly around the hips as his eyes squeezed closed. My last kiss tasted wet.
“Don’t cry, love.” I leaned in and rubbed my thumb along his cheek.
“Sorry, I’m just...really worried.”
“I kno-...I am too. But, I promise everything is going to work out. Okay? When all of this is over I’ll still be here, for you.”
“Hey, I’m supposed to be the one telling you that!” Needle tried to joke through the tears as I kissed him again.
“And you know what? I know that’s a promise you’re going to keep.”
I kissed him through the tears as he pulled on the back of my sleep sweater. I don’t know what I’d do without Needle in my life now. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like trying to go back to the way things used to be.
“Have...you told your brothers that we’re a thing yet?” I asked softly as I run my hands over his shoulders.
“Did you tell your family?”
“Touché.” He stiffled a laugh as I leaned down into his chest. “I’ll tell Dad today, the others can wait.”
“I’ll tell Magnet today then. Then weMre even on the confessions list.”
“Are you going to tell your Dad?”
“Well, he’s going to find out one way or another. Secrets don’t tend to keep well here. I can almost guarantee Snake knows, which means Shadow knows too. The countdown is on until the whole fortress knows.”
I groaned a bit, just trying to imagine how that gossip was going to spill to Pharaoh eventually. And how I was going to save my ass for not telling him before anyone else.
“Okay, I have to tell Dad AND Pharaoh today then before you’re tattle-tail family ruins the reveal.”
“That’s fair.” Needle chuckled as he leaned down to press his lips against my neck, just below my ear guard. “Magnet might actually rip me in half if he has to hear more drama about my life second hand from Snake again.”
“I’m sure you’re overreacting. Maggie wouldn’t do that.” I teased as I pulled myself closer to receive his kisses better.
Almost on queue Needle’s door slowly cracked open and Magnet peeked in quickly. He already looked a bit blushy, but this scene just sent him over the top.
“You said his name too many ti-“ I was quickly muffled by the blanket as Needle tried to cover himself up.
“Wow...you two usually sleep until noon....” Magnet tried to recompose himself in the doorway, but he was failing badly. “I don’t have time for the whole story, but I’m going to say congratulations, and I BETTER hear the whole thing today over lunch! Fair?” He stated more than asked as he pulled at his loose pj shorts.
“Yep! Perfect! Get out please!”
Magnet flashed the ‘o.k.’ sign and quickly showed himself out, closing the door behind him.
“He seemed like he was in a rush.” I taunted as Needle let me escape from the covers.
“Oh, he’s absolutely gettin’ some when he finished with morning rounds. Sorry, I should have warned you that he usually checks in in the mornings. He’s just a but paranoid since we all tend to wander at night.” Needle apologized, looking a mix of embarrassed and defeated.
“Family, gotta love em.” I laughed as I snuggled back up. “So when exactly is your birthday? You said you’re family just does everything around Magnet’s cause it’s the middle-ish.”
“I, uh...already had it.” He admitted.
“YOU LET ME MISS YOUR BIRTHDAY?!” I huffed.
“It was like, three weeks ago! It’s fine!” Needle laughed as I made quick work of smooching up his cheeks again.
“Nope! That’s not allowed! I hope you’re ready to have the best birthday you’ve ever had!”

Chapter Text

Skull slept through the quiet wake up call from Metal when he came to get me. I slowly snuck out of bed beside him and tucked him back in as I followed Metal out to the hall.
“What? Couldn’t sleep.” Metal half teased as he nudged my shoulder.
“...I’ve never seen the city before.” I admitted. Even though Metal already knew this fact.
“It’s okay to be excited. I was practically in awe the first time I saw a sky scraper.”
Metal gave Shadow a curt nod as we entered the kitchen. The third generations second in command was sat at one of the stools around the island. He was stirring up two cups of coffee.
“Good morning. I was surprised to hear that you would be joining us today, Ring.” Shadow addressed right off the bat as he gave me a scan up and down. “I assume we will need to get him casual clothes.”
“Shadow, I said to be nice.” Metal said as he picked up one of the cups and took a sip from it. “Oh fuck that’s good.”
Shadow handed me the other cup, which I accepted awkwardly.
“Is...is this for Cossack?”
“No, it’s for you. It’s modified. Do not let your father see you drink it though, he would not be pleased.” Shadow said as I noticed the cup beside him. It seemed to have a lighter more transparent consistency.
“...why not?”
“Because, robots who need hot drinks to function in the morning are not getting enough rest. He’ll think you’re overworking yourself.” Shadow said as he sipped at his cup.
“It’s just a little booster in the morning, get’s things running early. Just try it.” Metal said as he blew on the top of the drink softly.
The warmth coming from the cup was already nice, but the liquid smelled a bit bitter. I took a sip reguardless. The warmth was nice though, even if the taste wasn’t great. It was just warmed up e-tank fluid, but with something else mixed in.
“Bitter?” Metal asked as he offered me his cup to try a sip from. “Shadow puts some of Wily’s creamer in mine.” I took another cautious sip. Metal’s had a distinctly different flavour.
“I like that one.”
“One sec.” Metal swung open the fridge and splashed a little bit of white liquid into my cup from a bottle. “Now yours will taste like mine.”
“Thank you.”
“We need to pick up a shipment from the warehouse in the green district. It might be beneficial to bring transportation.” Shadow said as he handed Metal a paper that he had folded up in his pocket.
“What would we bring though that wouldn’t attract attention? We don’t exactly have anything at our disposal.” Metal said as he examined the note.
“Then you can teleport it home.” Shadow almost sounded like he was trying to sass Metal.
“Why can’t you warp it?”
“Too big.”
“...fine...” Metal admitted defeat as he finished his drink. “Let me grab myself some extra e-tanks then. I’ll be right back.”
And with that, I was left alone with Shadow. Great.
“I hear you and Magnet had a bit of an arguement yesterday, correct?”
FUCKIN GREAT.
“...this is correct...I need to apologize to him. I was out of line.” I tried to submit, but Shadow seemed persistent.
“No, you were looking out for your line. You could have gone about the conversation a bit more civil though.” Was that a hint of a smile on Shadow’s face? He almost looked proud.
“Alright, let’s get a move on.” Metal said as he hiked a bag up around his shoulders. He handed me a stack of neatly folded clothes as well. “Armour down and get dressed. These are the best I could do.”
I obeyed, armouring down and pulling on the jeans, socks, high tops, and dress shirt. The shirt was really nice though, I felt really good in it.
“You even look like you’d be a cop.” Metal bluffed and mock punched my shoulder.
“He does clean up nicely.” Shadow agreed with a nod as he got up and quickly rinsed out our cups and put them away neatly.
I felt the smile creep onto my face. I think that was the closest thing I’d heard to a compliment yet from these two.
“Okay, hold my arm.” Shadow offered to me as Metal grabbed his other arm.
“Oh, why?” I questioned as I looped my arm through Shadow’s. He lightly squeezed me closer.
The next thing I knew I was in pitch black. It almost felt like I was floating in...nothing. No, maybe more like...thick e-tank fluid. There was definitly something around me, but I couldn’t tell of it was the darkness itself or some sort of thin film encasing us. I could faintly make out Shadow’s arm through mine, and the dim flicker of lights.
It took a second for my optics to adjust to the darkness, but once they did I got a full scale of where we were. This must be the rift thing that Shadow could warp through,
It was beautiful.
Looking up at all the small specks of light looked like thousands of little stars. Wherever we passed under a particularly bright one I could make out my companions faces. Metal looked absolutely blissful in the deafening silent space, and Shadow looked absolutely at home. This was cool, this was so fucking cool!
I gasped as we broke the surface of one of the light sources. Shadow’s hand had migrated around my waist as he pulled us out with him. I could hear Metal giddily laughing as I felt Shadow lift me off the ground a bit.
“What do you think?” Shadow asked as he spun around and put me down. My optics were starting to adjust again so I could make out where we were. It smelled incredibly crisp out here though, like we were near the ocean still; like on the island.
“That! Wow...I just...wow.” I tried to find the right words, but everything just escaped me.
“I know!” Metal had the biggest smile I’d ever seen plastered across his face. Even Shadow seemed to grant a peaceful smile.
“Have you always been able to do that?”
“I was granted it. It’s...a long story, but it’s celestial technology. It baffles Wily, and it makes him mad that I won’t tell him how to recreate it.” Shadow chuckled as he armoured down into a casual blue and white jacket and started tying his hair up into a bun.
“Do you know how to recreate it?”
“Fuck no.”
Okay, these two were cool.
“Listen, you don’t get cool powers without calling in some favours. That’s all I’m going to say.” Shadow insisted as Metal armoured down to match us now, sporting a leather jacket and band tee. His little ear guard decorators stayed too.
“He sucked so much alien dic-“ Metal started, but was promptly cut off by a slap to the mouth. He was still laughing though.
“Don’t tell him that! I did not!”
“Fine, one dick, many times.”
Before Shadow could land another hit Metal had already jumped back and started running.
“Come on then, let’s get the business part of today over with so we can go and enjoy ourselves.” Shadow started at a fast walking pace before he took off running as well.
Okay, run. That was a new one; not really part of the training so far. Cossack said I was fast though, so that had to be good for something.
Keeping up with the two Wily bots was proving to be a challenge, but at least it gave me a second to take in the scenery. We were on some kind of boardwalk above the shallows of the ocean. There were a lot of huge warehouses that lined the land boarder of the dock, and there were shipping containers stacked in huge towers.
Metal and Shadow were standing outside one of the warehouses by the time I caught up with them. They looked like they were getting ready to get down to business.
“You’re not that fast, are you?” Metal half teased as I crinckled my nose at him.
“I just haven’t really had to run yet...”
“It’s okay, he’s still faster than most of our brothers.” Shadow defended me, which was a nice surprise. “Follow us, and don’t say anything unless you’re spoken to.”
“Okay.”
“And...if things do start to...just grab my arm and I will take you out of harms way.” Shadow nodded, apparently content with his answer. “We deal with this company a lot though, so I don’t see why they would have a problem today.”
Metal lead the party into the dimly lit building that was just starting to taste the morning sunrise. There were a couple odd small robot mulling about, but there was no real action. Metal lead us to a bit of an office off to the side of the warehouse where he knocked politely on the door before letting himself in.
There were two younger looking men sat around a desk that was littered with documents and cigarettes butts. It absolutely reaked in here. It took everything in my system not to gag instinctively. The one man stood up and went to shake Metal’s hand.
“Great to see you again.” The man smiled widely as Metal reluctantly shook his hand.
“Of course.” Metal sat himself down in one of the chairs infront of the desk as he pulled the backpack onto his lap. “We have the rest of the day off after this, so I was hoping to wrap this up as soon as possible.”
“Yes! No problem. We just need the...items that we agreed upon.” The man behind the desk said as I tried not to make eye contact. “Wily’s building now bots again?”
“Did he ever stop?” Metal responded quickly.
“What’s his name?”
“None of your business.” He snapped back. “You’ll be dealing with him soon enough. He’s been shadowing us all week.” Metal plopped the backpack up on the desk and took three e-tanks out of it. “That’s what you wanted, right?”
I watched curiously as the man pulled out two dog collar looking things? They were flexible, and had a little buckle so they could be done up. They looked like they locked too.
“They’re both disabled, but security wouldn’t be able to tell. That’s what we wear through airports all the time. They aren’t easy to come by.” Metal explained. “We couldn’t get a third one, but I hope the rest is *more* than satisfactory.”
The man pulled out a few thick wads of cash, counterfeit no doubt, and two flashdrives.
“What are these?”
“One of them has co-ordinates to the exact location of the item you are looking for, so a robot could teleport directly in to it. There are no alarms on the inside of the display so once they’re in they’ll be fine. The other one is a bit more, miscellaneous. I think you’ll find it more recreational for some of your partners.”
“You’re too good to our bots, you know that right?”
“I do. But they all just can’t get enough of me.” Metal fawned mockingly. “So, do we have a deal?”
“Well, we really were hoping for three inhibitor collars...Maybe we could strike up a last minute addition?”
The look the man from behind the desk was giving me was, concerning...
“What did you have in mind.” Metal asked, completely strict.
“You know some of our bots are due for some, servicing. Maybe you’d be kind enough to do them some favours? You know they absolutely adore you.”
“Really? Around the new kid? You’re disgusting.” Metal tried to insult the man, but he clearly had no shame left. “I might be persuaded.”
“Harpoon and Harbour are here. I’m sure they’d love to chat. I’m sure you could keep one of them entertained for a while.”
“Ugh, Harbour gives me the creeps. I could probably handle Harpoon though...Tell you what, I’ll do Harpoon. But, next time we do business, you owe me big time. Understand?”
Eww....EWW! OH MY....? MAKER? This is what they had to do? To get, fucking...EEW??!?
I mean, I guess Metal was serious that you didn’t get the nice things without doing a few favours. But still, this was no way to make a living...I almost felt bad for them. Almost.
“Perhaps I could pe-“
“No.” Shadow replied strictly as the man tried to eye him up.
“Harbour won’t be happy though, and he’s such a sweetheart. You wouldn’t want him to be-“
“No.” Shadow was unmoved.
“Humph...fine.” The man tutted from behind the desk as the other one stood up. “I don’t suppose I could convince our new partner here?”
“Uh...” FUCK.
“No, you shouldn’t.” Metal reiterated. Practically glaring daggers at the man.
“You sure? He sounded interested.”
“He’s not. End of conversation.”
“It’s not like he’s too young. Age doesn’t matter for robots.”
“But, it does? Do you know how idiotic you sound?” Metal defended as he stood up and grabbed the bag back off the table. “We could just leave, we don’t need your services anyways.”
He couldn’t be serious? They would really leave an entire supply run, just for me?
“Let’s not be hasty!” The man practically jumped out of his seat. “I think our current terms are fine!”
“That’s what I thought.” Metal handed the bag back to the man, who snatched it back greedily. “Can you show us to our end of the bargain?”
“It’s the first container to the left of the office. Orange box, it’s unlocked if you want to check.”
“Splendid. Can you call Harpoon up as well, the sooner I get this over with the sooner I can get on with my plans for the day.” Metal waved the man off as we left the office without a reply. “He has exactly ten minutes to get up here before we leave.” Metal muttered under his breath as he let out a sigh.
“You don’t have to play it up like that everytime you know.” Shadow said as he crossed his arms as we walked to our container.
“I know, but it’s just easier. I can’t stand that guy. He’s so gross.”
“If you didn’t enjoy it so much then we would have stopped dealing with him by now.” Shadow mocked as he opened the door of the shipping container.
“You...aren’t really going to do...that, are you?” I stopped and looked at Metal.
“I am.” He said before letting out a sigh. “There are a lot of things that we do for our families sake.”
Wait!
“Wh-! What is?” I stuttered to find the words to descride what I was looking at in the shipping container.
The sad eyes of a massive robot looked back at me from inside a sturdy looking cage.
“Big snail!” The other two were laughing at me as I crouched down infront of the bot. It looked up at me and tried to shuffle farther back into its cage. “No! It’s okay! I won’t hurt you!” Shadow squatted down beside me and put his hand to the cage.
“It’s for one of your brothers for their fight. They’re called Escaroo. Do you know how to control them?”
“What?”
“You are a robot master, you can influence the actions of lesser robots like this.” Shadow said as the snail inched its way back over so he could pet its head.
“How do I do that?”
“It....well...I don’t know. I don’t remember learning it; I just remember doing it.” I watched as Shadow leaned in and gave the big snail some loving head scritches. “I don’t know if I could teach you, but you know how to do it. It’s somewhere in your code. Come and look at this one.” Shadow slid past the cage, which took up almost half of the container to the back. There was another robot sat in the back cage as well.
“What is this one supposed to be?”
“Oh, so you get snail right off the bat but you don’t know what a hippo looks like?” Shadow mocked as I attempted to put my arm through the cage to pet the bot. “Whoa whoa! Hippos can be really mean. He’d rip your arm off if you gave him the opportunity.”
“Can I control this one too though? So it won’t bite me?”
“You can.”
“Can I try it?”
“Be my guest.” Shadow nodded as I traded spots with him.
Okay, time to do a quick code search to see if I could dig up any instructions on how to actually do this.
Nothing, but I could definitely do it. It was like, broadcasting a radio signal almost? A high frequency signal that could disrupt lesser robots command funtions so we could substitute our own commands. Well, it was more like suggestions to sway the lesser bots in our favour. We couldn’t explicitly order them to do anything, but we could make them want to do things.
I wanted the bot to come close so I could scratch his cute little ears; but not bite me. So I could probably make it seem like I was his ally and then offer him some pats.
‘I’m a friend, you can come closer.’ I suggested first as the hippo lumbered up to our side of the cage. Now I just had to keep my cool. ‘I’m going to scratch your ears, you’ll like it.’
I slowly reached through the bars of the cage and put my hand on the top of the hippos head. This was good.
“Good work.” Shadow complimented as he slipped his hand through the bars as well to stratch the bots side, who seemed more or less relaxed at this point.
“Thanks. Where’d Metal go?”
“I’ll give you three guesses.” Shadow scoffed at me as he stood back up. “We can head out, Metal will finish up business here and then meet us in town later.”
That sounded good, I really wasn’t too keen on sticking around here for long. The next thing I knew I was pulled into the boid again. Shadow’s arm was wrapped around my stomach as we floated through the space. He pulled us back up in an orange tinted light. The sun was just starting to rise here, and it had the most beautiful orange hues to accompany it.
“The cops always get the nicest view of the city.” Shadow remarked as he leaned against the archway we were standing between. The pillars held up a huge blue dome with a clock face on the side that faced the street.
We were actually on top of what I had to assume was a police station. I watched the people mull in and out of the entry way down front, but none of them were looking up.
“Nervous?” Shadow asked as he stretched.
“No...should I be?”
“No, they won’t really bother us. If you were alone, or easy to single out, then you’d be smart to be nervous.” He affirmed as he found a seat against the warming stone of the building.
“Well, you are war machines.” I teased as I found a ledge beside him.
“This is true; but for right now we aren’t doing anything.”
“But you’ve done things in the past. Illegal things.”
“We were ordered too, we couldn’t disobey. Wily in the one they’re after. They couldn’t do anything to us.” Shadow shrugged as he pulled his scarf tighter as he got comfortable.
“They could reprogram you?”
“That wouldn’t be punishment though. Not for us anyways. Dad might care, but it depends. Humans want revenge, getting rid of us isn’t good enough.” Shadow explained. “Killing one of us wouldn’t work either. It would only make the other that much more unbearable.”
That made sense. The Wily bots would be absolutely manic if they actually killed one of their brothers. I couldn’t imagine the chaos a bunch of greiving Wily bot’s could cause. Then again, I don’t know if the humans would know what to do if they ever actually caught one of them otherwise...The smartest thing would be to hold them hostage...no, hold their I.C. chip hostage. Then they would have to be delicate, they couldn’t just plan a jail break. That would be the most tactical approach, I wonder if they knew that?
We enjoyed the warmth of the sun for a good long time. I don’t think I’d been able to just sit and enjoy being awake yet. It was really nice though. I see why Metal and Shadow ditched the parties to come and relax. I might have to add the disappearing act to my move set.
Metal joined us shortly after and set up the scanner to listen to the quiet chatter in the radio. It looked like an ancient little box that was doing the broadcasting work, but I guess it did the job.
“So...” Shadow asked as Metal punched his leg.
“Don’t, it was fine. As usual. Nothing special.” Metal was blushing.
“You’re going to have to tell Crash one day.”
“I will, but not anytime soon. It doesn’t concern him anyways. I’m not romantically invested in those bots at all.”
Metal huffed as he came to lie down beside me in defeat. “It’s for business, that’s it.”
I found myself relaxing a bit more now that Metal was back. At least I didn’t have to make idle chat with Shadow by myself now. Now we could just listen to the radio and enjoy the peace and quiet.
I didn’t realize how noisy the fortress was compared to here. I guess it was still early here in the city, so that would probably change later, but the fortress always seemed to be bustling. The kitchen was a nightmare, especially around lunch time when everyone was awake. Skull wasn’t a fan of the noise either, so we usually just slipped away when we could to somewhere quiet. I still wasn’t really sure where I stood with Skull, especially after my arguement with Magnet. I apologized to Dad, but I still felt like I needed to apologize to Skull for loosing my temper too. I was going to get better, for them, and that meant I had to start with fixing my dumb mistake. I didn’t want Skull to think I was a royal jerkwad for no reason.
“Ring, you’re tensing up isn’t helping me relax.” Metal joked as he put his hand on my leg. “Do you want to talk about something?”
“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about Skull. I shouldn’t have ditched him today.”
“He’ll be fine. Cossack said he wanted him to spend more time with your brothers anyways.” Metal rolled over onto his back and put his arms behind his head.
“Yeah, he did say that. I guess it’s fine then.”
/Has anyone else looked at the clocktower recently?/ a voice bubbled over the scanner.
/No, why is it wrong?/
/No it’s fine. But, currently there are three bots occupying the front face of it. It looks like the same two from last time, and a new blonde./
/Great, Wily bots. They’re worse than fuckin’ rats./
Metal got a chuckle out of that one.
/Should we try and get them down?/
/Nobody pays me enough to play exterminator with lethal killing machines. As long as they don’t cause any trouble then they can stay there./
/We’ll send someone up later to check, they shouldn’t be a nuisance though. They just slept last time./
/Yeah, but they’re just doing it here to be annoying and make us look bad./
/Try and be positive, maybe they’re trying to turn a new leaf?/
I found myself looking down to the front of the building to find the one officer on their radio. He was stood across the road at a little coffee shop balancing a tray of cups in his opposite hand.
I couldn’t help but smile. That was going to be me one day, with the crisp blue shirts and the dorky looking hat. I mean, probably not since I’d be wearing my armour most of the time...but I could still change my casual look. I mean, if they’d take me after all this. That’s partially why I felt I was going to need some reprogramming. I felt like I could be a valuable asset, but I still kinda felt like a jerk.
/That blonde one looks pretty new. I can’t see any scuffs or dents on them at all./
/Well they aren’t in their armour./
/But they don’t have any patches or anything. Do you think Wily’s making bots again?/
/Probably, I don’t think he’ll ever stop./
/It’s a shame that those bots can’t be out to good use./
“Ring, you’re practically grinning ear to ear.” Metal teased as I looked back at him. “You’re such a dork, you’re getting all excited to go and work aren’t you.”
“Of course I am! Look at this! This is so cool! That’s going to be me soon.” I tried not to boast too much. “And then, you better watch out! Because it’s going to be me that’s after all of you!” I teased as Metal rolled over and pinned me beneath him.
“Oh yeah? You think you’re gunna be able to catch us? That’s cute. You couldn’t hurt a fly.” Metal raspberried my cheer as he leaned down overtop of me. “I know your *ultimate* weakness!”
“No, stop! Don’t, it tickles!” I wheezed as Metal ran his hands down my side as I writhed.
“Nope, you’re gunna love me too much. Then you won’t be able to touch me!” Metal laughed as he pressed into another raspberry. “You’re gunna remember this, and then! I’m gunna spring one of these on you!” He pulled my shirt up and raspberried my stomach.
“Noooo!”
“Helpless! Cower before the all mighty Wily bots!” Metal looked like he was having the time of his life.
“I remember when you used to do that to the third liners.” Shadow had taken to watching our mock struggle. “Spark’s laugh is still that adorable, ugly snorting.”
“Aww, now you have me all nostalgic! I miss when they were all babies!” Metal finally let me sit up and catch my breath after the tickle attack.
“Hey, I’m not a baby anymore. I’m like...four days old.” I tried to defend myself.”
“Nah, you’ll always be the baby brother. You’re always going to be this cute.” I lied back down in defeat as Metal rolled off of me and back to his lounging spot. “Trust me, once you grow up things just, loose their lustre. You don’t want to grow up too fast.”
I couldn’t even begin to imagine what my brothers were going to be like after our fight. They all seemed to be plenty mature enough to handle it, but...I don’t know. Metal said Rock had ruined him after their fight. Our fight was going to be different though.
“...can you tell me about Kalinka?”
“You haven’t met her yet?”
“No? Wily won’t let us see her.”
“Oh, duh. We’ve been sneaking your brothers to go and see her. I’m sure we can get you introduced tomorrow though.” Metal waved off my request.
“But what’s she like?”
“She’s just the sweetest, you’ll love her.” Metal confirmed.
“She is Cossack’s biological daughter, and she just turned 10. We missed her birthday but it was a few weeks ago.” Shadow explained more in depth. “She’s a straight A student, and she wants to go into robotics like her father.”
“What happened to her mom?” My mom too...I guess.
“Died in a car accident last year. It was deemed an accident, but the other driver was a known anti-roboticist. Your father still thinks it was on purpose. So do Dust and Pharaoh; they’re still pretty sensatice on the topic.”
Great, now there’s theoretical murder and kidnapping in my family.
“Oh, I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t. I didn’t think Cossack would have given you that information. I think it’s still settling in for him to.”
“...So, how come no one has come looking for Cossack yet? Surely someone’s had to have noticed he’s missing.”
“Oh they’ve tried. Pharaoh’s workcite calls almost weekly to make sure he’s okay. As far as everyone else is concerned Cossack has pulled all of his bots from duty to work on their ‘upgrades’. The only people who really questioned it were Pharaoh’s family.”
“How so?”
“Pharaoh is like, really good at what he does. Like, freaky good. He goes all around the world on commission to help other archeologists. A lot of people are missing him, and it’s costing Cossack some serious business too. But everyone’s going to be really happy to see him back.”
“They wanted to know what Cossack was upgrading, and they wanted to talk to Cossack directly. Bright has been managing all of the calls that he’s been getting. He’s very good at lying.”
Huh, I guess I didn’t really pay much attention to the little lightbulb. He was pretty easy to overlook though, I almost never saw him unless we were in the lab.
“I guess he’ll be glad to get back to work then.”
/I’m going to go up and check on those robots now./
/Did you want a hand?/
/No, I talked with them last time. They’ll recognize me./
“Maker, they’re so annoying.” Metal rolled his eyes. “Don’t say anything to him, okay?”
“Okay.”
It was a few minutes before a maintenance door opened at the top of the building and a man joined us on the roof. Sheesh, I was meeting all kinds of humans today.
“Good morning, how are we doing today?” The man asked, but the other two stayed quiet.
Were they actually afraid of this human? Or did they just not care enough to acknowledge him.
“Come on now, you already know I’m not going to hurt you. I couldn’t if I tried.” The man huffed as he sat down beside us. He seemed a bit winded; I imagine he had to take the stairs up here.
“We were enjoying a quiet morning.” Shadow said, full venom in his response.
“Sorry to interrupt then. You know if you hang around here though we have to at least pretend like we’re keeping you in check.”
“This is just the best place to get a signal. We have no business here otherwise.” Shadow cast a glance at our ancient radio.
“Spying, we’ll add that to the record.” The man almost seemed like he was trying to joke with us. “Geez that thing looks older than me.”
“It does the job.”
At least Shadow seemed to have everything under control. This human wasn’t a threat at all.
“Are you going to tell me your names today? Or am I going to have to keep guessing.”
“You know the rules, one guess a day.” Metal piped in.
I guess even if they weren’t here on business then they were still allowed to toy with these people.
“Alright, well. I guessed Quickman and Snakeman last week...So let’s go with, Crashman and Geminiman.”
“Not even close.” Shadow cocked a bit of a smile.
“...Gemini doesn’t even have a nose-“ I blurted out before I could stop myself. I slapped my hand over my mouth, probably a bit overdramatically.
“Do I get to guess for you too?” The man asked, looking at me. Metal was quick to shuffle his way between me and the man though. “Ah, no then.”
“No, you’d just never get it right.”
Metal said as he put his arm around my waist and pulled me in closer to his side.
“So Wily’s building new bots again then?”
“Not exactly...” I could almost detect a sigh from Shadow.
“Oh, that doesn’t sound good. Are they okay?”
“They’re doing fine. It’ll be over soon anyways...It won’t be here either. In this city at least.” Metal admitted.
“Good to know. Thanks for the heads up anyways.” He man nodded along.
“So are you just showing him the ropes today? Teaching him how to get in the cops hair?”
“No, we’re just relaxing today. He doesn’t need to learn any of that.” Metal said as he looked back at me with a sigh.
“We’re babysitting.” Shadow cast a glance my way, to see if he struck a nerve.
I managed a breathy huff and crossed my arms, but I managed to keep my mouth shut this time.
“Huh, well that’s a first. I didn’t know robots needed watching.”
“We don’t, but when they’re new it’s better not to let them wonder.”
“I see.”
We were really dropping a lot of hints to this guy, to this police officer. I wonder is Wily knew that Metal and Shadow came out here to gossip with the local law enforcement.
“Are you sure you’re all healthy? You two really don’t look great, especially sat beside him.”
They didn’t answer, but the man was right. All of the Wily bots were starting to show their wear and tear. Metal probably looked the worst out of the Wily bots though, he’d just seen more life than the others. They were going to need some maintenance soon though, and I doubted Wily really had the parts to fix all of them.
“I’ll take that as a solid no. But I doubt you’d go and get help at a clinic anyways.” The man said. “There is one in the robotics district though, and we really do see what you lot do down there for those folks and bots.”
Right, the Wily bots ran crowd control on anti-roboticists too. Metal had mentioned that they liked to torment their protests in the robotics district. All it took was a handful of Wily bots to make those cowards run. And well, whatever was left usually didn’t last long.
“You lot keep it clean down there. Thanks again for that. You do make some paperwork when people show up murdered...but...”
“We have orders, we can’t disobey.” Shadow corrected the man before he could finish.
“I know, but they’re people too.”
“When they kill innocent robots then it no longer matters.”
Wait! People can just kill robots? Like, just random people? And did they mean like, actually kill?
“It’s usually an extremely high voltage shock to paralyze, and then they’re beaten apart until they can get to their I.C. chip.” Metal explained because I must have looked dumbfounded. “It’s not nice finding the carcasses.”
“It’s worse when they won’t finish the job and just leave them there instead.” Shadow added as I found myself trying not to be nauseous.
“We’re just glad here that you’re trying to make it better. Even if it’s not the best way to go about it...”
No, fuck them! If they’re going to torture a bot that can’t defend themselves then they can go to hell! Fuck wait, no, I was supposed to be by the books. They deserve jail time, but they alse deserve a life sentence and some death threats.
“You’re getting all rialed up.” Metal spoke softly as he rubbed my side. “It’s okay, we take care of it.”
“...I...But why would they do that in the first place?” I asked. I couldn’t help myself.
“Because people are afraid of change.” The man beat Metal to the answer. “Someone’s always going to want things to stay the same, and that the same is the right way. But things are constantly changing, so we should be adapting as well.”
I pulled my knees up to my chest. That was unfortunate...the police at my new job probably wouldn’t be too thrilled with me taking their jobs either. It was dangerous though, and they could get hurt! I could do the dangerous stuff so they didn’t have to!
“I know, it’s difficult to think about.” Metal comforted as he pulled me in tighter. “Your Dad isn’t very fond of them either.”
My attention was drawn to the officer as he held his ear peice for a moment.
“Sorry to dip on you boys but I have to go. Fire just broke out near the district. See you there?”
“Count on it.” The man hurried back downstairs as Shadow and Metal got up.
“I though, fire fighters did the fire fighting?”
“May be a foul play thing. Come on, let’s go watch.” Metal said before taking a running start off the side of the building.
I watched as he jumped gracefully over to the next building and kept running.
“Keep up.” Shadow practically dove off the roof and rolled onto the next balcony.
Welp, okay.
I’d prefer not to be a ground pancake, but I know I could jump pretty well. This should be something that I could handle.
...
I caught up to the others significantly later than they had arrived. To be fair I got turned around in the park so I spent some time trying to re-orient myself.
“You’re right, he’s not very fast is he?”
“Okay! Ha ha, funny...” I smacked at Metal as I caught my breath. “I thought you two were supposed to be babysitting. Not just trying to ditch me in the city.”
“You found us, did you not?” Shadow asked, looking pretty proud of himself.
“Yeah, but only because I could see the smoke from 20 blocks away!” I looked up at the crumbling shell of the burnt building. “This place really went up quick though.”
“It’s an abandoned building. Someone was probably trying to start a fire for heat or something.” Metal said as I found myself watching a few groups of robots wandering around. They didn’t seem to be doing anything, they just seemed displaced.
“They probably lived in the building. The Fire Department here doesn’t have a robot master to help calm them down.” Shadow said, addressing my question before I could even ask it.
“Are they okay?”
“No, some of them are injured. Unfortunately, it is unlikely they will receive aid from these humans. They have a record of treating strays poorly.”
“...are we going to do anything about them?”
“We can take some of them. If they are too far gone though we won’t have the means to repair them.”
“You should pick out a couple that you like. You can start with then for your stage set up.” Metal encouraged.
“Are we going down there?”
“Yeah of course. The won’t bother us as long as we keep the bots out of the way. It makes their lives easier if we can deal with the bots. There are a lot down there that are just lost.”
I followed Metal down slowly to the front of the burning building as some of the bots started running towards us. They all just looked to be in a panic as Metal squatted down to hold some of them.
“It’s okay, shhh. You’re all okay.” Metal soothed as one bot pulled at my leg. They had a dent in their helmet, but other than that they appeared to be functional.
“Robot Masters! On scene.” I looked around as someone yelled. One of the firefighters probably; either that or the cop from earlier.
“Good, they can get all of this little bastards calmed down!”
I picked up the little bot that was sat at my feet and it nuzzled up against my face. Okay, that was cute as heck.
“Do you want to try calling them over? I’ll take control if you lose it.” Metal asked as he pointed to some of the other bots that seemed a bit more disoriented.
“How do I do it?”
“Just, think calming thoughts. Then invite them over. Sometimes it helps if you hum, like a little tune.”
Humming? I could probably manage that. I looked through my knowledge repository for any songs that I knew. Most of them were lullabies, I guess that would do. I found the tune and hummed along to it softly. I let my eyes close as I tried to focus on calming the other bots down.
‘Everything will be alright. I’m here now. Come to me.’ I repeated softly in my head as I felt something pull on my leg needily.
I felt the immediate snap as a bot started listening to me. That was a weird feeling, but it made me feel, responsible.
“You almost have it, keep going.” Shadow encouraged, trying not to interrupt me.
‘It’s alright now, I’ll help you. Come to me.’
I cautiously opened my eyes to find the small hoast of bots crowded around my feet.
“I did it.” I stated blankly, a bit impressed with myself in all honesty.
“You did, congratulations.” Metal looked absolutely delighted as he patted my shoulder. “Now tell them all to sleep, so we can sort the good ones out to bring home with us.”
‘It’s okay, you can relax now. You can sleep now.’
I was surprised how trusting all of the bots were. I guess that was just the presence that robot masters carried. Pharaoh was probably pretty good at this already, I wonder if he could teach me more.
“Wait, what about the not good ones?” I asked, holding my little dented bot closer to my chest.
“Some of them might be too far gone. The ones that aren’t responding; we can’t control them.” Metal said as he looked back at the building. There was one bot just walking in circles and crying.
The poor thing. It must have got hit by something, or maybe its filters were all clogged? Surely it could be fixed though, it wasn’t visibly damaged.
“It looks fine, it just functions weird. It probably isn’t a hard fix.”
“It’s not like that...it’s more, psychological.”
“It is not a physical change we could make without altering there I.C. chip. Which is strictly forbidden.” Shadow added. “It’s better to put it out of its misery.”
“That can’t be it though!”
“Well, they’re just a lot more maintenance.” Metal huffed. “I mean, if you want to try and take care of them, then be my guest.”
“Really?”
“You have to go and get them to calm down first so we can teleport them with the others.”
“Easy.”
This was easy, surely it couldn’t be as hard as they were making it seem. I walked up past the crowd of humans who were starting to dispurse now that the fire was mostly under control.
“Poor thing.”
“It’s fine, the robots will deal with it.”
I heard two of the fore fighter discussing as a stopped infront of the bot that was mid-circle.
The smaller bot bumped into my leg clumsily before redirecting itself around to continue its circles. I watched it make the second pass by in a circle as I caught the fire fighters attention.
“Is he not going to kill it?”
“He wouldn’t just toy with it.”
On the third pass I tried to pick the smaller bot up. As soon as I stopped him this time he started screaming though. And not just regular screaming, more like actual panic. It shocked me enough to drop him and let him continue in his circles. He stopped screaming as soon as his feet his the ground again. Okay, easy. He just didn’t like being picked up. I could still figure this out.
I caught a glimpse back as Metal and Shadow as they stood beside the officer from earlier. Neither of them looked impressed, but I think they could appreciate the fact that I was trying.
This time when the bot passed by I pushed down on its top, forcing it to stop moving. At least this time it didn’t scream. And now that it had stopped moving maybe I could get it to listen to me. I carefully sat myself down infront of it so I could see it a little more face to face. He was still crying, but the eyes looked glossy and lost.
“Hey big guy.” I soothed as I felt the bot trying to move again. “I’m here for you now. Can we talk?” I asked softly again as I let him go.
He kept walking, but he only bumped into my chest and then couldn’t figure out how to get over my legs. His crying got worse with this. I pushed down on his head again and he stopped.
“I’m going to pick you up again, and everything is going to be okay. Alright?” I asked as I leaned back to look them in the eyes again. At least this time I got a nod.
They still screamed when I picked them up, but I held them close to my chest. They gripped me back tightly, but they still screamed in terror. This really broke my core.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ve got you. I’m not going to let you go.” I hushed as I felt the bots tears staining my crisp new shirt. It was fine though, this was more important.
I rocked back slowly and got up, careful not to shuffle the bot around to much.
To my surprise, the bot actually calmed down quite a bit. He was still crying, but the screaming had slowed down to a low whimpering.
“Will you come home with me? I’ll take care of you.” I lied on the spot, knowing fully well we’d just stick this bot in one of my brothers stations for the fight. Which again made me feel sick to my stomach.
The bot nodded along lightly as I walked back over to Shadow and Metal, who seemed relatively impressed. Content, with my point proven I felt a little bit more confident about my capabilities.
“Okay, we can go back now.”

Chapter Text

Once we actually rolled everyone out of bed for the day things got off to a great start. We split up a bit once we got to the robotics district, but it was nice to know we were all out enjoying each others company. Maggie had insisted that Needle and Dust come with us for lunch though, and I was glad they did! I was so happy for Dusty! They made such a cute couple! Admittedly, I was thinking about how hard it was going to be for them to stay together after all of this, but Needle seemed pretty dedicated.
I mean, a part of me did feel a bit jealous, but I was so happy to see my little bro so happy! I hadn’t seen him smile and laugh like this in a while.
With lunch all finished up we moved to the next portion of our celebration. We headed back to the hide out and got the party rollin!
The music was pulsing, the air was electric. The sand on the beach felt so nice between my aching joints, and being out in the sun never hurt the mood. I wasn’t exactly keen on the swimming party of the party, so Heat and I spent some time together working on a sandcastle while everyone else went out to enjoy the waves. They’d even cracked out some dusty old surfboards to try out. And arguably, I don’t think those boards were meant to hold our heavy asses. They did manage to maroon Snake on one that was strung up to the dock, but Snake looked more than content to just float.
Heat and I started up a big ol’ bonfire once everyone had enough of the water, and we started gossiping, as Wilybots do.
I was a bit surprised when Metal, Shadow, and Ring all joined us just before sunset. Apparently the two Wily bots weren’t really much for parties, which I could understand. But I was more taken back by the fact that Ring was holding a small little robot with him. I have no idea where the bot came from, but I was picking up readings from it that it was in recovery mode. Wily must have fixed it up or something for our stage prep, and I guess Ring was practicing with the mastering aspect of his coding. Still, it was a bit weird seeing him just talk so casually with Metal and Shadow. It was like the three of them had known each other forever. The three were sat together on the opposite side of the huge bonfire we’d set up, but occasionally I’d catch a glimpse of Ring smiling and chatting away. I guess they’d had a really good morning together. I was glad, maybe Ring would be okay after all.
I was really having doubts about Ring as my second-in-command after I’d heard about his little spat with Magnet, but already he seems to have grown passed it.
I was starting to have some conflicting thoughts about what was going to happen once all of this was over. I knew I was going to go back to work again, but would I still be happy? I’ve never felt so, human. I felt like I was living and experience so many things that I’d never considered before. And now as I looked around the campfire at the bots, I couldn’t tell my brothers apart from the Wily bots.
Dust was napping against Needle’s legs. Dive was still splashing around in the water with Bubble. Drill was laughing with Crash and Heat. Toad and Snake were competing to roast the perfect marshmallow. Ring had finally made some new friends. And Bright was...Bright was...
Bright was talking to Flash quietly off to the side. Both of them looked worried, or at the very least concerned. I was in the process of standing up to see what was going on between them when I felt a hand gently wrap around my side.
“Pharaoh, can you help me back to my room? I don’t feel so good.” It was Top, and I knew he was lying by the wink he snuck me.
“Where’s Magnet, shouldn’t you be asking him?” I’d already lifted one of his arms over my shoulders and placed my hand around his waist.
“He went to bed forever ago! He’s old.” Top joked, but nobody seemed suspicious. Which meant this was all playing out according to plan.
“Alrighy, off to bed we go. I might turn in for the night too.” A said as I looked at Quick, who I’d been sharing the rest of my etank with.
“Alright old timer. I’ll make sure the others get to bed too.”
“No rush, Quick. Let them enjoy this. See you tomorrow.”
“Night Pharoah.”
And with that, the scene was set. Top was giggling the entire way to the house, and once we got through the porch door he was practically dragging me through the house back to Magnet’s room.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I got Maggie all dressed up for the occasion.” Top stopped me outside of the bedroom door as he produced a key to unlock it.
I was certainly, surprised, to find Magnet in such a compromising position. I guess Top had told me earlier that they’d been experimenting lately, so maybe the ropes and gags were just another one of those experiments...
This of course didn’t stop me from immediately covering my face as Top pulled me into the room. Top’s hands just as quickly found there way under my shirt and up my chest.
“It’s okay, I know. It’s a lot to take in.” Top’s tone was silvery smooth as he leaned in and gently kissed the backs of my hands.
“I wasn’t expecting, the whole show.” I tried to brush off nervously as I let my hands drop.
Top took my hands happily and lead me over to the bed to give me ‘the tour’. He put my hands on Magnet’s sides carefully, and I felt him shudder a bit under the sudden validation. Magnet looked a little hesitant too, but Top was once again quick to squash any insecurities.
“Look at that, my two favourite partners. And you play so nice together.” He smiled as he peeled off his shirt and leaned down to Magnet’s level. “I would take this out, but I don’t want you getting too loud.” He gently ran his hand over the ball gag in Magnet’s mouth.
I was as gentle as I could be with Magnet’s sides, but I still wasn’t used to this level of contact. I settled with one hand on his thigh, and judging by the way he writhed and arched his back I guess it felt pretty good. Top leaned in over Magnet and put one of his hands on my shoulder.
“Just be gentle with him, he might be a little...overstimulated right now.” He said with a devilish smile. I caught the roll of Magnet’s eyes as well right before Top swooped in with some gentle neck kisses.
Okay, my turn...
I put my hands on his pelvis as I ran my thumbs down the creases of his legs. I knelt down against the side of the bed where he was displayed and started to place delicate kisses on his inner thigh. The way his body tensed up drove me crazy.
“Fuck, stop making that face. You’re getting me all hot and bothered.” I looked up at Top as he laughed a bit. “You’re going to short circuit him is you keep teasing him.”
Not that I needed to be told. I could see how wet Magnet was already as I dared to slide a finger into the presenting hole. He jerked at the motion.
“Sorry, was that too rough?” I dotted quickly as Magnet sighed out in euphoria.
“He’s okay, just go slowly. You don’t have to go knuckles deep on the first push.” Top said as he continued teasing Magnet with chest and neck kisses.
The second attempt was slower, and a little more methodical. I hit a spot a few times that made him arch his back up and whine a bit. But everytime he did Top smiled reassuringly back at me. Top even eventually came down to my level to hold Magnet’s legs apart while I worked around the delicate areas.
“How are you feeling big guy? Maybe time for something a little meatier?” Top said as he slid behind me. He wrapped his hands around my waist and quickly found his way down my pants. His hands still felt weird, but I think I could live with it.
He had my pants off in a matter or seconds as one hand switched to grabbing my ass. His tounge ran along the nape of my neck as I lost my grip on Magnet for a moment.
I wish I could just let Top pamper me like this all night, but I knew he would get bored quickly. He was here to see something else anyways.
The tip barely squeezed into Magnet’s already prepared hole, but Top guided me from behind thrusting against my hips encouragingly. It was definitely a weird feeling seeing Magnet helpless like this, but it was still even stranger to think of all the events that lead up to this.
I leaned down to get a better grip as Top took a few steps back. The instinct of plowing into Magnet’s insides almost took over as I felt him tense around my cock as I felt some resistance at the end of his vag. Top had cozied his way back up onto the bed to take out the gag; Magnet started panting and whining the second he was free. He was quickly quieted by Top’s kisses, and occasionally he’d gasp for a breath.
I took a quick breath and felt my leg tense up for a moment. I leaned in and kissed his stomach, digging my finger in a little for support. I felt our liquids mixing as they dripped down my legs. I tried to catch my breath for a second, but Top was quick to press his lips to mine. His tongue slipped in expertly as he pushed me back and out of Magnet. He perched himself ontop of Magnet and wrapped his legs around my waist tightly. One of his hands grabbed the back of my head desperately as he laced his fingers through my hair. I grabbed under his thighs and picked him up, taking a step away from the bed.
Magnet’s face was red as he watched me squeeze Top.
Then, as I felt myself slip into Top I also saw the notification from Bright on my comm system.
*Do you have a second to talk Pharaoh? I could really use somebody right now.*
“Shit...” I winced as Top kissed my neck.
“Are you okay? Is this too much?” Top asked as he tensed up for a moment sliding further down my cock.
“I need to go, duty calls...” Unfortunately, it seems I was a little busy.
Top gave me a look, somewhere between displeased and concerned.
“Can’t you ignore it? You said you were going to sleep?” I tried carefully to hold Top up to get off, but he wrapped his legs tighter.
“It really can’t wait if it’s Bright who’s messagin-“ I stopped as Top slid all the way down and wiggled his hips. “Okay, quick.”
I buckled over the bed, lying Top on his back as Magnet lazily enjoyed the show. It looked like he was still trying to untwist his wires though based on his bedroom eyes. I rocked into Top hard and fast and I could tell that it caught him off guard. His moaning hopefully fell on deaf ears, but he climaxed a lot quicker then expected.
I left him on the bed as he recalibrated himself as Magnet rolled over to grace him with a few kisses as best as he could with his constraints. I helped untie him as best as I could before pulling my clothes back on.
“If something is wrong, you know you can tell us, right?” Magnet asked as he stretched out.
“I know. I just don’t know what’s wrong yet. I’ll be back.” I leaned in and gave Magnet a kiss. It still felt weird to be that intimate with the bot I considered my mentor.
*Where are you?* I text Bright back as I tried to silently slide out of the bedroom.
*I’m in my room.*
*Sorry, I was just getting ready for bed.*
I checked around the corner of the living room to make sure nobody saw me leave the 3rd gen’s side of the fortress before making my way back towards the families rooms. Thankfully it looked like everyone else was still out.
I stopped infront of Bright’s door and sent him another message. *I’m here, is it unlocked.*
*Yep, come in.*
I opened the door and closed it quietly behind myself. This was the first time I’d really been in Bright’s room here at the fortress, but it looked pretty similar to his room at home by this point. Ever available surface was covered in notes and blueprints and shelves with bits and bobs on them. The desk was plastered with spare parts and schematics, as well as a few blueprints for what looked to be buildings.
“Hey Bright, what’s wrong?” I asked as he turned his desk chair around and started a video on his laptop. It looked like security footage or something from some part of the Wily Fortress, but it was dimly lit.
I watched as a robot clad in red slipped down the hall quietly and cracked open all of the doors along the way. Protoman was looking for something, and by the looks of it, he hadn’t found it.
“When was this taken?”
“An hour ago. He was looking through our hall here. I guess he was looking for us, but we were all out by the fire. Dad was with Wily in his lab.”
“What is he doing here? I thought he didn’t know where the fortress was?”
“Well, he clearly knows now. I don’t know if he was looking for us, or just making sure we weren’t there? It’s hard to say.”
“Has anyone else seen this?”
“Flash was going to show Quick. Snake said he’d show Magnet in the morning.” Bright sighed. “I think this is bad news, for all of us.”
I sat down on Bright’s bed with a huff. At least he hadn’t seen any of us. Who knows what would have happened. I’m glad Ring had gone with the others today, he probably wouldn’t have known what to do. And Skull...well he would have...
Oh. Oh no.

Chapter Text

..................
32.

I woke up late today, later than usual at least. Ring hadn’t woken me up. I did a quick check to see if he was still napping only to find he’d been replaced by a pile of pillows and some blankets.
Right, he said he was going out today with the others for their birthday? Or, activation day? Something like that. Huh, it must have been nice to be invited.
...
I didn’t mind though. I had something I wanted to do today anyways. I wanted to ask...oh, no he was probably out with the others too. Then maybe...no, Bubble said he was going to a sushi place? Whatever that was? Well, what about Star? Star wasn’t going with his brothers. At least not that I’d heard. Maybe I could go and talk to him about my barrier weapon.
I rolled out of bed and checked the time, 11:24. Eek, I didn’t think I’d slept in that much. I pulled on some cozy pj pants I’d stolen from Drill’s wardrobe and made my way down to the living room. It was so weird to see the usually bustling room completely empty. I bypassed the breakfast leftovers and started to hop down the stairs to Wily’s lab. I don’t know how the others managed to stomach three meals a day, sometimes more. Top and Spark had said they only eat once or twice sometimes, but they seemed worried when I wasn’t even ‘hungry’ enough to do that. Truth be told, I had an e-tank yesterday morning and I was still running on those reserves. Crystal called it ‘hyper efficiency’, but I don’t know if I’d word it exactly like that. I just wasn’t using my expected output, because there wasn’t that much to actually do around this place.
I swung open the doors to Wily’s lab, and realized fairly quickly that I’d lost my train on thought on the way down here. I was going to turn around and go to Star’s room, but I found myself dumbstruck by all of the...stuff! There were so many things! And they all had blinking lights, or screens, or little tubes running through them.
“Who..! Oh!” Wily started as he wheeled out from underneath a machine on a dolly. “Skull, what can I help you with my boy.”
I took a few steps closer, just so I could try and see what Wily was working on.
“I...well, I got a bit distracted.” I confessed in all honest. “What are you working on?”
“Ah, I would have expected for you to have gone with your brothers today.” Wily said as he dusted himself off and stood up slowly. “I was working on some bits and pieces for an airship I’ve always wanted to build.”
“Can you fit a whole airship in here?”
“Well I’ll move it out to the hanger once it get’s too big!” Wily rolled his eyes a bit. “It’s easier to build the engines separately though and add them in later.”
“You have a hanger here too? This place gets bigger every day.”
Wily chuckled a bit as he leaned in to pat me and the hip. He pulled his jacket off the top of the engine and slid it back on.
“I was about to go and check on your sister, would you like to come with me?” Wily asked as he buttoned up his jacket.
“Sister? Oh, Kalinka...”
“You still haven’t met her, right?”
“No sir, I didn’t think you were. You know...” I tried to dance around the fact that the Wily bots had been sneaking my brothers over on occasion.
“I know the others have seen her already. My newest boys are terrible at lying thanks to her. I guess I have to thank her for that too though.” Wily laughed a bit. “She’s been real helpful with Star’s line. They might thing they’re babysitting her, but she’s actually babysitting them.”
“Star’s said that she’s really nice.”
“Oh course he said that, I don’t think he’s capable of saying a single mean thing.” Wily waved his arms wildly, which admittedly got a chuckle out of me.
“I...Is it normal to be, nervous. About meeting people you’re supposed to like?” I asked in a brief moment of transparency.
Wily slowed down and turned to look at me.
“I’d say so. Anytime there’s any expectation I think you’d be smart to be nervous.” He said, not quite in a comforting tone, but I think it was implied.
“What if she doesn’t like me Wily? What do I do?”
“Bah! Listen to yourself!” Wily fused. “You’re doing to much thinking in here.” He said pointing at my chest. “She’s your sister. She’s going to love you just as much as she loves the others already.”
I put my hand over my chest briefly to cover the spot he’d pointed at. I know he meant my heart, but it just seemed, off.
“Hey, listen to me.” Wily started as he gently grabbed my arm to stop me. His hand found it’s way behind my neck as I bent down to him. “You are an amazing bot, and anyone would be lucky to call you family. You think they expect a lot from you, but the only thing they want is a brother.” Wily smiled as he rubbed under my eyes. “Don’t cry, you deserve so much better than this.”
“...if they wanted a brother why didn’t they invite me...” I could hear my own grumpy tone loud and clear, I sounded just like Ring.
“It’s been a rough few days. Once you’re home you’ll fit right in. None of you are meant to be here.” Wily gave me a pat on the shoulder reassuringly and continued down the hall.
I followed him, wiping my eyes quickly to try and regain myself. I desperately wanted to connect with my brothers, but after running the defencive with Ring I was...exhausted? It was certainly more work than just training.
I knew Ring was and always would be my best friend. I already trusted him with my life...but he was making it really hard to keep up that faith. I wanted the best for him, and I CERTAINLY didn’t want to see his memory wiped. But, why was he picking fights? All the time! Magnet might have been the breaking point, but it wasn’t like nobody noticed how big of a tool he was. I hope he pulls his act together and starts to reevaluate his own worth. I know I was going to have to have that kind of reflection with myself too. Especially after all this was over.
Wily knocked on a door lightly before letting himself in. Thankfully I picked out the familiar face of Star who was sat on the foot of the bed beside a blonde haired girl. My “heart” instantly melted. I was going to scare the shit out of this poor girl.
“Ah, there’s the lady of the hour!” Wily cheered as he walked into the room. “Keeping up on your studies I see.”
“Star is teaching me physics!” She said as she held up a thick textbook. “Well, aerodynamics, mostly. It’s not as bad as he said it was.”
Now that I’d gotten a better look at Star he seemed just baffled. He wasn’t lying when he said Kalinka was a smart cookie.
“That’s amazing! You’ll probably be teaching him by the end of the day.” Wily joked as Kalinka laughed. “Well, I was really hoping I could schedule some time out of your busy day to introduce you to someone.” Wily said as he stepped out of the way so Kalinka had a clear view of me. Standing like a deer in the headlights in the doorway.
“Oh! Is this one of your new bots?” She asked as she slid off the bed and happily trotted over to me. I found myself taking a step back cautiously. “It’s okay! I don’t bite!”
“Well, actually Kalinka. This is one of your new little brothers.” Wily said as he sat down on the bed beside Star, folding the textbook closed that Kalinka had cast aside.
She stopped. We were only about three feet apart as she looked up at me. I didn’t realize how small she was, or how tall I was compared to her. I felt myself fidgeting when she didn’t respond to Wily. Something was wrong. She hated me. Oh maker, she didn’t like me. I watched as the single streaks of tears ran down her face and instantly something new clicked.
I crouched down and slowly put my arms out to her. She practically threw herself ontop of me, wrapping her arms over my shoulders and burying her face against my neck. I felt her fingers digging into my neck cables but it felt, comforting, in a way? I wrapped my arms around her firmly and shuffled to kneel down more comfortably.
“Shhh, it’s okay.” I couldn’t believe the coding that was kicking in. “I’m here.”
“I’m so sorry!” Her cries were muffled against my neck. “I’m sorry!”
“Sorry!? Why are you sorry?” I tried to look at her but she refused to look up at me.
It took her a while to calm down. I eventually pulled her down to sit on the floor between my legs as I shifted around again. The crying did eventually calm down.
“I’m sorry that this is happening...” Kalinka eventually managed to put her feelings into words.
I looked up at Wily but he just seemed, deflated. I think he understood the emotional turmoil Kalinka had been through in the last few months. And that he was the reason for it. The others always talked about how hard it was going to be for them to go back to work and get back to normal. But I couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it would be for Kalinka to go back to ‘normal’.
“I’m sorry too.” I agreed quietly. “But, sometimes you have to make the best of a bad situation.” I said as I rested my chin against the top of her head. “If none of this happened then I wouldn’t be here...”
“No! I didn’t mean it like that! I-!” She shuffled back quickly to look at me. I had to remember that she probably wasn’t ready to have the same kinds of conversations I’d been having with Ring. She was just a kid.
“No I know! I just-“ I huffed, a bit displeased with myself. “My name is Skullman. It’s really nice to finally meet you.” I said relieved. At least she didn’t hate me.
“I’m Kalinka. It’s nice to meet you too.” She looked so much different than the pictures I was given of her. She looked, tired. She still had that optimistic smile, but I could tell it was hiding layers of psychological defeat.
I just wanted to pull her back into another tight hug and tell her that everything was going to be alright. But truthfully, I couldn’t promise her anything.
“...you look really scary. Rock is going to wet himself when he sees you.” I heard Wily stifle a laugh in the background.
“I guess that counts as a compliment.” I chuckled a bit as she laughed. “I was wondering if we could actually get to know each other a little bit better today. To be honest I was nervous that you’d be too scared of me to really even look at me.” I admitted.
“You look a bit scary...But you’re my brother! I’m not scared of my brothers.” She said very matter-o-fact like. “You aren’t going to hurt me on purpose, and I’ve already seem how anxious the others were when they were babies too. I know it’s difficult to adjust to, well, living.”
Maybe she was ready to have deep conversations like Ring.
“I’m glad I don’t scare you. I’m really glad.” I puffed a bit as she gently touched my face with curiosity. “How about you tell me all about yourself, and then we can play a game. Whatever you want.”
“Even princesses?” Her eyes lit up.
“Of course princesses!” She looked ecstatic as she hopped back up to the bed.
Wily politely saw himself out of the room now that the introductions were over, as did Star. Albeit he seemed a little more hesitant to leave. But after a bit of coaxing from Wily he said his goodbyes.
Kalinka wasted no time telling me just about everything she could think up. She told me about her room back home, and about school and the kids in her grade. She told me about her Mom and Dad, amd far to much personal information about our brothers. She told me about home, and then about all of the places she’d visited in the world. She told me about the fifth gen Wily bots and how much she loved them. She told me about her best friend Roll, and how much she missed seeing her. And she told me about Rock, and how he was going to help us all get back to normal. I found it odd that she worded it like that. I’d expect her to use the ‘save us’ phrase like my coding suggested.
“I don’t feel like we need to be saved, really. We aren’t in danger here.”
She made a compelling arguement. It wasn’t exactly unsafe here. Even when Ring was getting his ass handed to him I never felt afraid of being here. It was more just for Ring’s safety in the moment. Was I going to feel safer once we left, or was this place bound to feel more like home?
“I’d consider the Wily bot’s friends, some of them maybe even family. But your family can live in two different houses. Doesn’t make them any less family.”
Kalinka was in fact a well of knowledge.
Star brought in some lunch for her later in the afternoon, and he stayed and talked with us for a while. He also got roped into playing princesses, which I was grateful for. I couldn’t say I was really familiar with the game rules or etiquette, but he seemed to be a professional at this point.
Star was, amazing. He was so confident and stunning. He was certainly quite the character. I could see why Kalinka had grown so attached to him, and it looked like the feeling was mutual. Star looked so happy to have Kalinka’s attention, I could tell he was reveling in it while he had the chance. He knew just as well as I did that days like today were fleeting. None the less, he still sipped politely at his tea cup full of etank fluid and smiled like sunshine at Kalinka. I wonder if she could tell how tired he was.
I was also introduced to several of Star’s brothers. Crystal, Gyro, and Charge had all just narrowly missed being demanded to participate in tea time as we cleaned up the play kit. The three of them offered to take over the babysitting duties from us, but Kalinka was insistent that she was in fact the one watching me. The three still joined us for impromptu storytime as Kalinka read us a thrilling tale about a little train. Charge seemed particularly interested in the conclusion.
Dinnertime rolled around, and shortly after that, bedtime. I met the rest of the fifth line as I accompanied Kalinka to their shared common area away from the rest of the family for movie time. I settled in on the couch with the others with Kalinka sat on my lap. She was asleep within the first twenty minutes.
“So, why didn’t you go with the others today?” Crystal quietly asked as he brushed his hand lightly through Kalinka’s hair.
“I uh, wasn’t invited.” I admitted, feeling a little silly to be admitting it like that.
“What? Really? What goons. Well, you’re always welcome to hang out with us. No invitation required.” He smiled as he leaned against my shoulder supportively, which caught me a bit off guard. I still wasn’t really used to the closeness of others, besides Ring of course.
The end of the movie was, confusing. But that might be due to my lack of understanding about the power of music. Which the others didn’t seem to question. Well, Napalm and Stone were asleep so they couldn’t object, but the others hadn’t said anything either. I would have to look into music more to understand why it was so powerful.
“Okay, bedtime for real this time.” Star said as he gently shook Crystal awake, who had apparently fallen asleep against my arm as well. “You should spend the night with her, Skull. I think she’d like that.”
I nodded in agreement as I carefully scooped up Kalinka and made my way back to her room with Star close behind.
We passed by the windows that looked out to the sea and framed the beach party nicely down by the shore. It looked like they were all having fun, but I was certainly happier to have spent the evening in.
I carefully lied Kalinka down on her bed and tucked her in all cozy like. I sat down on the foot of the bed and looked back to the door where Star had stopped, just in time to see hands curiously wrap themselves around his waist. Crystal whispered something too quiet for me to hear in his ear as he sighed a bit, relaxing from the tension he was holding.
“Goodnight, Skull. Sleeping bags all yours.” Star motioned to the makeshift sleeping arrangement beside the bed. I nodded politely as he closed the door behind himself.
I shuffled my way down onto the floor and tried my hardest to get comfortable. I didn’t have as much padding as your average bot though, so the cold hard floor quickly had me looking for an alternative. I boosted myself up into the edge of the bed, shifting Kalinka over ever so slightly. She shuffled for just a moment, but unconsciously rearranged herself to face the wall. It wasn’t like I took up that much space anyways, there was plenty of room for her to spread out.
Slowly, I felt my systems start to enter sleep mode.
I was all but ready to pass out when I heard the door open quietly. Must just be someone checking up on us. I slowly moved to look back at the visitor but the door had already closed. I must be doing something right.
I let myself relax again against the soft matress. Today had been a surprisingly nice day, despite being left behind by the rest of the family. I got the chance to meet Kalinka and meet the Fifth gens! Today wasn’t lonely at all. Now all I had to do was actually properly talk to the rest of my brothers. But now that I had Kalinka to back me up it couldn’t be that hard.

......

Kalinka must be somewhere around here. I’d turned this wretched Castle inside out looking for her. I just knew Wily had her locked up behind one of these doors. Well, not locked, almost none of the doors were locked except for the one that I knew belonged to Shadow.
I almost regretted what I’d done to get these coordinates. But that was before I’d returned to my makeshift base to find everything I’d ever loved burnt to a crisp. If it was any other bot I’d be furious, but after getting to know Shadow more I was surprised he wasn’t just mercilessly hunting me to the ends of the earth. Shadow couldn’t handle anymore abandonment, I was honestly surprised his threshold was THIS high to begin with. And there I went, breaking more hearts.
I closed the door to what was very obviously Gemini’s room before making my way back down to the common room and kitchen. This was easily the most dangerous room too pass through, because anyone could simply be passing by and spot me. I was at least lucky enough to have caught most of them out partying. It meant I could sneak around with less interruptions.
The only real sign of life I’d heard in the fortress so far was the new bots passing through occasionally. Luckily they weren’t nearly as on edge or as perceptive as the third generation. They just carried on through with a DVD? Wily sure had some strange ways of storing information. Reguardless, I was here for someone else.
If I could just get Kalinka out safely then she could explain what was happening to Doctor Light and Rock. And then I could let him have the coordinates to the castle so he could finish the job once and for all. At least that was the plan now. The Cossack bots were a lost cause, they were fraternizing with the enemy! They couldn’t be trusted anymore! And who could tell what was going through Cossack’s head, maybe the power grab had actually gotten to him. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was actually working with Wily. The place practically smelled like it was up to no good, which was mostly explosives and a hint of coolant.
After another hour of searching throught the remaining empty sections of the fortress, and finding a secluded place to stash my stuff, I had to face the fact that I’d have to check down the occupied fifth gen hall. It sounded like there was some movement a while ago, but the activity seemed to have died down at least. Hopefully I wouldn’t have to confront any of them. Not that they’d do much anyways. I doubt they’d be smart enough yet to recognize me as a threat. Star knew what I was capable of, but he’d bested me once already. If anything he might call Shadow, but I think I could come up with a fake apology. Truth be told I’d already been practicing.
Yes, my original plan was to betray Shadow, but I didn’t ever think he’d be that...desprite? Touch starved? Vaulnerable? It was hard to really nail down the emotion. Maybe vaulnerable was the right one. He just seemed so shocked when I actually asked him to come and hang out. He told me often how much he looked forward to seeing me. His smile was such a rare commodity and I’d betrayed that trust in what must have only be a fraction of his lifetime. It cut deep, I knew it would the second he told me about his centuries of solitude. Every bit of time he was robbed of away from the bots who cared about him. And how lucky he was to have found a new family who loved him just as much. He told me how much he had grown to enjoy my company as well, and I wasn’t lying when I told him I enjoyed his company more.
We really bonded over the mutual feeling of loneliness. He’d experienced it for much longer than I had, but it wasn’t a competition. It was an emotion that not a lot of people really wanted to talk about. But everytime he told me a story I understood that painful longing feeling, and not being able to act on it. Shadow had maintained friendships with humans before but those we so fleeting for him. I couldn’t argue that I didn’t feel the same way, but that was my own fault.
I might have lost the company of the only bot that could ever understand what I’d been through, and I was devastated. He must be too based on the condition of my burnt belongings. Every metallic bone in my body wanted to apologize, but I think we were both far too damaged now for any kind of rekindling.
I slid down the quiet and empty hallway now that the fifth gen had all gone to bed. The other reason I’d avoided this hall was the huge windows that looked out towards the beach where the party was happening. Hopefully none of them were paying attention.
I cracked open the first door to an empty room. It had a bigger bed so it must have belonged to one of the bigger guys. Hopefully they were out on the beach and not silently waiting somewhere. The second door I opened was just a ghostly thin bot all curled up in the blankets of his bed. He stirred a bit as I’d opened the door so I’d retreated quickly. The rest of the rooms appeared to be more of the same. Only about half of the rooms were occupied, and I’d skipped the only room where the light was visible under the door still. I did spot two of the bigger guys passed out infront of the TV in a smaller common area, but nothing that screamed ‘containment for captives’.
I headed back to the secluded little corner of the fortress where I had stashed a few belongings before and made myself comfortable. It looked like I’d at least be spending the night here whether I liked it or not. I wasn’t leaving until I knew Kalinka was safe.

Chapter Text

Castle Crashers - PT 3

........

The kitchen was oddly quiet this morning. Even with yesterday’s festivities I expected at least the regular bots to be around. I’d heard some commotion last night after most of them had gone to bed, but nobody had said anything yet. I figured if it was something important they would have at least told Wily, and I’d been with him for most of the afternoon.
It was still nerve wracking spending time with Wily casually, but it was starting to feel a little bit like being with an old deranged uncle or something. We’d spent quite a long time talking about how much the world has changed in the last few years. He was very vocal about the negatives, but I did manage to get a few points in edgewise. It did give me a bit more insight into his own twisted motivations. Everything he did was really in the longterm interest of robots, well, everything he tried to do. It was weird almost agreeing with him on some points. Actually agreeing on other points made my stomach turn.
He talked for a while about his newest sons as well. He was adamant about the fact that Kalinka had been an invaluable asset in their development. He really thought they’d be the ones to do it. To enact his plans globally and take over. He was even so generous as to offer me a position of (slightly more) power in his post dominated world. Which hey, beats the alternative. Even if that part of his plan was still batshit crazy.
Now, I was patiently waiting for the kettle to boil in the quiet common area. It almost felt like I was back home for the first time in months. I’d become so familiar with the fortress that I could probably walk it blindfolded. Pharaoh had brought it up to me before that this place had started to feel like a second home, and I was unfortunately falling into that false sense of security myself. Well, maybe not a completely false sense, this place was virtually untouchable. The security protocols Wily had in place were impressive. It’s not hard to picture him as a military contractor at one point in his speckled career.
It really had me thinking about my living arrangements post fight though. I wanted to make sure my family felt safe after all of this was over. The house was nice of course, but I couldn’t help but think about how vaulnerable we were. Maybe I’d talk to Wily about that today.
Speak of the devil.
Wily sauntered his way into the kitchen and looked a bit surprised to see just me.
“That would explain why Shadow didn’t bring me coffee this morning.” He mentioned off handedly as I was already pulling down a mug for him. “How did you sleep?”
“Good, I stayed up a little longer while the boys were settling down. They were gossiping about something last night before they all turned in.” I replied as I sat down on one of the bar stools.
“Well, no surprise there.” Wily poured himself some of the freshly brewed coffee and joined me. “I didn’t get the chance to say this yesterday, but...I want to apologize.”
I was shocked to hear the words come out of Wily’s mouth.
“What? I mean it! I...don’t have very many regrets, but all of this, well it’s certainly in my top three.” He sighed a bit. “I didn’t expect to feel this guilty about making your boys fight. It’s bad enough when it’s my own boys.”
I resisted the quip of “so let us go” before it rolled off my tongue and let him continue.
“It might sound like empty empathy fishing, but I truly am sorry.” He waited for my response.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive you entirely for the damage you’ve done...but this is a start.” I said firmly.
Wily puffed out a bit, but seemed at least a bit satisfied to have gotten it off of his chest.
“You know, I-“
I was cut off by the sound of a small gasp from the common room entrance. I turned around just in time to see a somewhat familiar looking bot at the doorway.
“Doctor.” He said coldly, looking at both of us.
Wily was quick to jump to his feet, which argueably had me nervous.
“Breakman, how did you get here?!” Wily sneered.
“I don’t know how you swindled Cossack and his bots over to your side...but I won’t let you get away with this.” He responded coldly. I silently hoped Wily had already tripped some form of that impressive security system already.
Thankfully, it looked like he had. I jumped back as a shadow blade screeched into the room, quickly followed by a metal blade, and surprisingly, a ring boomerang. I was relieved to see the three matching bots skid into the room forming an offensive barrier.
“Oh he’s new! Is this your new little lapdog Cossack? He fits right in.” He barked at Ring to try and get a response.
I half expected some form of remark from Ring, but nothing came. Shadow and Metal must have really left an impression on him.
“Leave, Blues.” Shadow finally spoke up harshly.
“Afraid I can’t. I’m not leaving until I get Kalinka out of this madhouse.” My heart dropped.
“Then I’m afraid you won’t be leaving anytime soon.” Metal growled.
Wily slowly grabbed my arm and started to slowly back away from the building tension. I followed suit, not wanting to get caught in the crossfire. As soon as we were out of view he broke into a jog down the hall.
“We have to do it now. If Breakman knows the fortress’s location it’s only a matter of time before Megaman gets here. And that means we’re all in danger.” Wily said quickly as he strode down the hall. “Go get your boys ready, we’re shipping out in 15.”

....

“Shadow, just let me take her back to a normal life. You’ve even told me this is no place for her to live.” The stranger pleaded, but I waited for Shadow’s que.
“I changed my mind.” He replied coldly. His eyes were fixed on the intruder.
“You can’t be serious! You told me yourself that-“
“I said I changed my mind.” Shadow cut him off harshly.
I quickly looked at Metal for any kind of guidance, but his gaze was fixed on the intruder. He was clearly a well known threat based on how Shadow was interacting with him, but something seemed off. I gave the intruder a quick once over, he had an air of unease about him. His stance was off, his shoulders squared but he could be easily thrown off balance. He was not in peak preforming condition. Then again, neither were the Wily bots. The possibility briefly crossed my mind whether on not this could be a defected Wily bot, but it seemed unlikely.
“Then you, new kid. Surely you understand this is no place for a little kid to grow up.” He directed at me.
He looked for an answer in my expression, but I hoped I didn’t give anything away. Something in the back of my mind agreed with him, but at the same time I’d seen how much the Wily bots cared for her and Cossack. And us...
I waited for the signal from Shadow as the intruder braced himself down to a fighting stance. Shadow whipped a blade through the air first but it connected unsatisfactory with the hallway wall. The intruder had already made a bull charge towards Shadow, holding his shield out infront of him. Shadow melted into the inky shadows below as the intruder collided with the kitchen island. Metal quickly hopped backwards and threw a blade back towards the intruder that just narrowly clipped his arm. He swung to face me and I felt my systems freeze for a nanosecond. If he came here looking for a fight, then I hope he was damn ready for one.
I fell back, catching myself with one arm before I hit the floor and sweeping out my leg to try and catch his. He fumbled, just enough time for another Shadow Blade to narrowly shave the side of his ear receptor. I sprung back up, producing two of the Ring Boomerangs and threw either of them to opposite sides of the room. His head turned quickly to try and track the projectiles as they ricocheted back towards him. That bought me just enough time to clock him in the face.
He stumbled back as Shadow re-materialized between me and the intruder and drove a blade into his hand. I quickly snatched up one of the boomerangs and threw it sideways again, bouncing off the wall and catching him in the side of the head. Stunned and injured, he took another step away from Shadow and I only to be grabbed from behind by Metal. He looped his arms under the intuder’s and clasped his hands behind his head, holding him in place. He kicked forward at Shadow, but he was quick to deliver an absolutely devastated blow to the stomach.
“You’ve been a thorn in Wily’s side for too long.” Shadow practically hissed as he held the face of the intruder firmly in his hands. “And you won’t be a problem for much longer...Ring, I believe this is your wheelhouse. Let’s pack it up.”
“You got it.”
I summoned the larger rings and bound them tightly around his legs and arms. Metal quickly slung him over his shoulder and began heading towards Wily’s lab. I couldn’t even begin to bring myself to imagine what kind of torture Wily was actually capable of.
“Shadow, please! Let me go! You don’t know what Wily will do to me!” He pleaded desperately. But the script was fairly typical for a final plee for redemption.
“Oh, I know exactly what he’ll do to you. And I for one can’t wait to watch.” Shadow said as we followed behind Magnet so we could still talk with the prisoner face to face.
That did seem a bit, out of character for Shadow though. I looked at my companion to make sure he was doing okay, but he looked absolutely miserable. He looked upset, and hurt, and exhausted. I wondered is the prisoner could pick up on these details as well. He could very easily use this against Shadow to sway him one way or another.
“Please, I know you aren’t as braindead as these other Wily bots! You’re the smartest bot I know-“
“That’s enough out of you.” I cut him off before he had the chance to talk his way into having the upper hand.
I produced another one of the adjustable rings and fitted it around his mouth to gag him. He squirmed and muttered in protest, but it looked like it gave Shadow some peace of mind. I put my hand on Shadow’s shoulder supportively as we continued the walk the Wily’s lab.
“So, does he come around often?” I asked quietly, and out of pure awkwardness of the silence.
The look Shadow gave me at first sent chills down my spine, luckily his expression relaxed and returned to exhaustion.
“No, but he is not someone to mess with. He’s a cheap manipulator who’ll do anything to put himself above others. He’s full of nothing but lies and malice.” Shadow glared at the captive who tried to look away.
“Noted.” I nodded, not trying to pry too much more.
I quickly opened the doors to the lab for Metal as our captive was unceremoniously dropped on the floor inside the lab. Wily and Cossack both whipped around at the sound of the door opening, probably expecting the worst, but they both sighed with relief upon seeing the three of us.
Cossack and Wily quickly ran to us and I found myself smothered under Dad’s dotting embrace. This was a new feeling though, I never expected to see so much fear and relief is Cossack’s eyes at the same time. Wily looked similar as he looked over Shadow and Metal to make sure they were okay, and showered them in a rare bit of affection.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?! Let me see you!” Cossack gently squeezed up and down my arms as he looked me over.
“I’m fine, don’t worry.” I found myself stifling a laugh as Cossack dotted.
I really didn’t expect the hug though. It did get me thinking though that this intruder probably had a reputation for ripping through Wily bots. Based on the kind of attention we were getting now. I returned the hug out of curtesy, but it felt good to know Cossack was still worried about me even after all the shitty stuff I’d been pulling.
“No time to waste, who knows if he’s already given the fortress coordinates to Light. The backstabbing little weasel.” Wily huffed as he bent down to examine the detainee. “Let’s get him up on a table and sedated. Metal, gather up your line and start emergency relocation protocols. Shadow, go get the Cossack bot’s in place for their attack, we’re launching in 10 minutes. Pharaoh should already be rounding everybody up and doing a final refuel. Ring, go tell Pharaoh what happened and get caught up with your line. Make sure everyone is fit for combat.” Wily rattled off quickly as Cossack reluctantly let me go from the hug.
“Yes sir.” I responded almost in unison with the others. I turned to leave but Cossack still had ahold of my arm.
“And, be careful. All of you.” He reiterated.
“Yes sir.” I responded again with a reassuring smile as I heard Shadow and Metal do the same.
I joined the other two in a semi-sprint down the hall towards the ‘war room’ which would just be the converted training hall. Metal skidded down a hallway towards the hangers while Shadow and I continued down to the main floor of the training hall where all of our brothers had already gathered. They all looked at us expectantly, and before I even knew what I was saying the briefing started flowing.
“Cossack and Wily were just ambushed by an, intruder.” I looked back at Shadow quickly for a name.
“Breakman.” He affirmed.
“Breakman.” I repeated as I took inventory of all the reactions around the room. “Shadow, Metal, and myself have dispatched of the threat for now. He is currently being held in Wily’s lab. However, it has come to our concern that this individual has the coordinates to the fortress and can most likely come and go as he pleases, surpassing any security blockades. It is possible he has passed off this information to Light so that he may mount a counter attack against the fortress.” I once again paused to read the room. It was overwhelmingly concerned. “The first line Wily bot’s have proceeded to prepare emergency evacuation plans. We are to carry out our current objectives on Cossack’s mark in t-minus 7 minutes. Find your teleport buddy and report to your battle stations.” I finished as Shadow nodded along.
Pharaoh and Magnet were quick to approach us as everyone else went about their final preparations.
“Are you two okay? You’re not hurt?” Magnet had the same dotting tone as the doctors as Pharaoh quickly looked me over. More intrusively than Magnet looked over Shadow. I don’t think I’d seen Pharaoh this concerned yet.
“We’re fine thanks to Ring. You really swung that fight in our favour.” Shadow complimented, which completely caught me off guard.
“What? No...”
“No really, surprise is the only thing that provides the upper hand against Breakman. He underestimated you, and you showed yourself to be a real threat.” Shadow had the faintest hint of a smile.
“Oh, you’re welcome?” Shadow elbowed me in the side lightly as I joked with him. “Okay, okay. Time to get serious now.” I shook off the bubbly thoughts that arose as I spotted Skull quietly talking with Top before teleporting. “I’ll be right back.”
I quickly walked up to Skull and waved him down. Before he could say anything I pulled him into a hug with my arms over his shoulders. I felt him tense up in my embrace, but he settled with his hands on my hips.
“Good luck.” I said quietly before letting him go. “And you better tell me where you were all last night later!”
“I...I will, don’t worry.” I caught the small tone of a smile as he leaned away. “Good luck yourself. You’re the one that’s going to need it.” He sassed back.
It certainly put a smile on my face as I gave him one last wave before he teleported away.
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road people.”

....

There was no way of predicting these attacks. This one in particular left me devistated.
We had all just sat down for dinner after a long day of lab work. Elec had been home for some repairs, and ever since the reprogramming he was a little nervous in the lab. That just meant we had to take things slower than usual, but it was all for his sake. Roll had made a good helping of lasagna, which smelled amazing, and we had just started to eat when I got a call from the chief of police.
He said all Russian communications had been hijacked and were in a stand-by mode. He suspected Wily was about to put on a show. We moved our dinner party reluctantly to the lab and tuned in to the broadcasts. Reporters were already furiously clogging social media, but I was having a hard time staying caught up while I tried to translate everything coming through. I quickly thought to text Dr. Cossack to make sure he was okay, but I received an answer quicker than expected.
Cossack was front and center on every screen across the world. He had a devious grin on his face, but his eyes couldn’t hide the layers of exhaustion.
“Hello world. This is your new ruler speaking. As you my have already guessed, I’m here today to announce my plans for world domination.”
It shook me to my core, seeing another amazing roboticist corrupted by greed and envy. He spoke of the plight of robots struggling to survive in a world that viewed them as nothing more than machines. He was adamant to the fact that robots deserved to rule over humans themselves since they were the superior beings. And lastly, he called upon the worlds hero, Megaman, to try and defeat his eight robot masters.
I knew this was going to be tough for Rock to handle. He knew six of Cossack’s boys on a personal level. He considered them more like distant cousins than just friends. They were family. I’d dealt with the trauma first hand when he was forced to fight his own brothers, and I could imagine this round would be similar.
I helped my son prepare and sent him off with a kiss and some guiding words. Don’t let them get in your head.

.............

Chapter Text

Ch. 34

“Quit pacing, you’re making me nervous...and I’m not even the one fighting him this time.”
I snapped back around to Magnet to give him a dirty look, but I hardly felt that I’d gotten my point across. Reguardless, he patted the space on the pipe beside him where he’d taken a seat. I reluctantly joined him to try and center myself. He’d been right before during training, I was too caught up in my own head to focus. Now, standing in this room, just the two of us, my mind was swirling.
“You’re right, the worst part is the waiting.” I gave up on holding my composure, not that I was doing a very good jod anyways. I leaned against him as I sat down. “How do I make all the processor fog go away?”
“Ha, well. I know it’s going to sound bad, but you just have to calm down. Have some confidence.” Magnet gently put his arm around my back. “Megaman’s not going to hurt you, not badly anyways.”
“I know. And I know he won’t actually hurt the others on purpose, but this is all just so-“
“Nerve-wracking?”
“Huh...yes.” I sighed as Magnet cocked a smile my way.
“It’s okay. If anything goes wrong I’ve got your back. I’ll be right up there if he starts kickin’ you around.”
“Ha ha, very funny.” I rolled my eyes as I switched to fidgeting with my buster arm. “You couldn’t do anything even if you wanted to. Didn’t Wily give you orders not to interact?”
“Actually, the only thing he said was “don’t attack that little blue brat, that’s not your job!”” Magnet mocked in his best Wily impression. “He didn’t say anything about protecting you guys. I could take a few hits, draw his attention, confuse him.”
“Yeah, but then what?” I chuckled as he stood up to a defensive stance.
“Then, I give him one of these. Look! Over there!”” Magnet pointed off into the rafters and I humored him by looking.
Then he quickly shot to my side and threw me up over his shoulder.
“THEN! We teleport you out! It’s as easy as that!” I could tell he was smiling as he spun me in a few circles before putting me back down.
“Alright, good plan.” I praised mockingly as Magnet puffed out his chest playfully. “My hero, what would I do without you.”
“You’d be FINE! Even if I wasn’t here to safe ya. You’ve learned a lot. You’ve turned into a real powerhouse. Megaman better watch himself or else you might actually wipe the floor with him.”
“I doubt that. Rock is too full of valour and virtue. He wouldn’t let himself loose like this.”
“Well, either way. I’ll be proud of you.”
Magnet’s soft smile was a comfort I’d come to enjoy quite a lot. I was lucky to have met him. I was lucky to get along with him so well too. Well, ‘get along’ might be putting it lightly. I think we were dating now? I guess? I don’t really know what Dad or the others would think about that, especially Ring, but I don’t think that topic would come up for a while.
My attention was drawn away from Magnet by the intruder alarm off to the side of the room. I quickly checked through one of my commanded robots to find Rock had finally made his entrance. By now he’d already gone through Bright, Dive, and Skull. Judging by the shotgun scorch marks Skull had really given him a run for his money. He probably wasn’t expecting that secondary attack on top of the barrier.
“That’s my queue to duck out of here.” Magnet said as he looked up towards his desired escape route.
“Any last wisdom to impart?” I asked as I popped my finger joints.
“Uh... Arms up, carry through on your hits, don’t pull your punches?” He stopped for a moment to have one last moment on eye contact. “Don’t think too much about the big picture. The only thing that matters is you in that moment. Don’t lose focus, because that could be the difference between a few bad bruises and a hole through your chest.”
Yeah, yeah that was some good advice. It sometimes escaped me how serious of a situation I was in. Especially when the Wily bots did their best to downplay how badly they were injured.
“Okay wait, I said too much.” The look on my face revealed all of my insecurities. “You’ve been training for this, you’re going to do great. And! Once it’s done you get to go home! And you never have to do it again.” Magnet reassured as he started to climb the ladder up to his hiding spot.
“Yeah, okay. There’s always that little scrap of hope to hold onto.” I paused as I watched him climb. “I hope you know I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me, us.” I quickly corrected myself as I felt a blush crawl across my face.
Magnet stopped to look back down at me with a grin that saw right through my thinly veiled compliment. He gave me one last smile before leaving me to my own thoughts.
I took a seat, cross legged, on the floor across from the entrance to the room. A large rolling door that kept us away from the rest of the onslaught. It was weird to think this place was almost peaceful. I could watch the chaos outside, but none of the explosions or gun play noise could reach me in here. Rock was making short work on the lesser bots, but we’d all expected as such.
Seeing Rock like this was different for me. He was always this chipper, helpful, kid. He was a ray of sunshine in a robot body. But through these security cameras he almost seemed like a completely different bot. I couldn’t blame him, I probably looked a lot different now that he’d remember me as. My body had been honed in for combat, and between the training and lack of resources around the castle I was really starting to show my wear and tear. Nothing nearly comparable to the Wily bots, but it hadn’t gone unnoticed.
I tried not to flinch as I heard the rolling of wheels as the door slowly opened. Rock stood strong, despite his injuries, but his eyes hid nothing from me. He was scared, confused, angry, sad. A part of me wanted to reassure him that everything was going to be alright, but not now, not here.
“Pharaoh! Oh maker, Pharaoh! Please! Tell me what happened!” Rock practically begged as I gave him a moment to catch his breath. It seemed like the honourable thing to do.
“I see my brothers couldn’t finish the job. I will not be so kind.” I said as I stood, demanding his attention.
“Pharaoh, I don’t want to fight you. I just want to know what’s going on! Who’s making you do this.” He pleaded as I took a few quick steps forward.
He dropped into a somewhat guarded stance, still trying to regain himself after the stage set up. But he was expecting me to throw a punch, not grab him by the throat.
I easily hoisted him off the ground with one hand firmly grasped around his throat, crushing what I could without doing anything more than cosmetic damage. The tears gathering in the corners of his eyes almost got to me, but I felt something in the back of my mind take over to block out the pity and remorse.
“Gullible, as always. You were expecting a punch after fighting Dive, huh? Sorry to disappoint.” I mocked as I watched him raise his buster, almost in slow motion. I flung my opposite arm out to parry away the shot that echoed out behind me. “Up close and personal. Not used to that, are ya’?”
I switched over to my blaster and quickly let off a volley of shots into his stomach as I dropped him. In retrospect I should have grabbed him with my non-weapon hand. He’d quickly jumped back, patting out whatever flames he could while examining the newly scorched metal.
I watched as he switched to Dive’s weapon, and I almost found myself laughing at the thought. He gave it his best, two shots, both too clumsy to make any purchase. But the second of the two shots gave me enough time to get in a kick to the head. The delightful crunch of his comminicator against his skull was music to my ears. Hopefully that meant he couldn’t call for support anymore, or get any of Light’s advice.
But the taste caught in the back of my mouth for a moment. This wasn’t right. Why was I, enjoying this? I wasn’t supposed to win this fight? Was I?
Rock’s first blast with the skull barrier glanced off my shoulder, with the metallic teeth scraping along my shoulder guards. I exchanged six more shots back at him, all came up short. He was putting distance between us, and I couldn’t let that happen. I was much faster than Rock, most of the Wily bots were too. But they’d warned me about following Rock into a corner.
Instead of chasing him, like he wanted, I could use this as a chance to push him against a wall. Call his bluff. Make him panic.
I easily maneuver around the regular buster shots as he moved farther back, closer to the entrance. I slowly and steadily made my approach. The realization flashed across his eyes as all four on my shots connected. He crumpled for a moment as I found myself taking leaps toward him. The full intent of a soccer kick to the teeth in my mind. I was on the wind up to the kick when the light hit my eyes.
I hit something, not that I could see what it was. Based on the noise thought I’d probably sent Rock flying a few feet to the side. But now, my world was a pale yellow, and I had nothing to go off. I pinwheeled my arms out to balance myself as I heard Rock pull himself back up to a standing position. I shot blindly in the direction of the noise, but I kept myself firmly planted where I was. It must have been close because I heard him scramble away, but now I was really shooting blind.
I put one hand out to feel for the wall or the rolling door, I knew they had to be close. I probably looked like a fool right now. I heard Rock sigh heavily as his buster charged up. The shot to my hip caught me off guard and threw me against the wall I’d been looking for.
“Wait!” He wasn’t supposed to kill me? He’d won?! I couldn’t even see where he was.
“Sorry, Pharaoh. We’ll figure out what went wrong. I promise. But I can’t let you out of here like this.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant ‘blind’ or ‘evil’ but unfortunately the logical part of my brain leaned towards the later.
I struggled to pull myself up to brace myself against the wall for whatever was coming. Another shot from the standard buster I was sure. Hopefully he had enough sense not to fire off Dive’s missile this close range. My injured hip refused to let me stand up straight without the support of the wall, but I hoped I didn’t look too pathetic right now.
“Sto-!”
BANG
I heard the crunching of metal and the weight of a body hit the floor infront of me. Shit.
I detected the quietest whimper from Rock, his hands probably covering his mouth as he bore witness to his actions.
“Magnet! I! You weren’t!...Wily has something to do with this! Doesn’t he!” I waited hopefully for an answer from Magnet as I slowly lowered myself back to my knees. “ANSWER ME, PHARAOH!” Rock yelled my name with spite.
I felt around desperately infront of myself until my fingers grazed over hot liquid that quickly expanded from its source. I followed it back until my hands and knees were soaked and my hand clumsily collided with Magnet’s still body.
“Magnet? Maggie?” No response. I traced my hands up over his chest to feel for the wound, slowly settling at the severed cables that now barely kept his head attached to his shoulders. “MAGNET! MAGNET!!” An ugly sob escaped me as I heard Rock drop to his knees heavily.
I could feel the oil starting to seep up my bandages as I desperately tried to think of something to do. I couldn’t go back home, Dad wasn’t there yet to help fix him. Wily was likely in a rush trying to get everything out of the fortress, not to mention he’d have his hands full with Blues too. That only left me with one option, and I know they weren’t going to be thrilled about it. Dealing with their disbelief and shock would still be better than waiting this out while Magnet leaked out.
“The others will be waiting for you.” I said grimly and monotone.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for-! I didn’t want-!” Rock stammered to find the words as I searched for a relay point to teleport to.
We were gone before Rock could get his point across, tumbling onto the wooden deck of Dr. Astil’s lab. I hoped they were still here and that they hadn’t already left for Russia to go help Dad with repairs. I had no way of knowing where the door was, so I just banged on the boards of the deck until I could heard footsteps running towards the door. I couldn’t see who it was, but the pace made me hope it was Plant.
“Aye! Pharaoh!” Sure enough, as the door swung open I heard Plant’s voice. His hands quickly slid under my arms along with his vines to pull me inside over the lip of the door.
“Please! Help him!” I begged as I struggled to remember the layout of their home.
“I’ve got him, I’ve got both of you. Dad! Dad! Help! It’s Pharaoh!” I could hear Astil running up the stairs behind me as Plant’s vines gently held me up to sit against the wall.
“Oh! My...Bring them both down to the lab. Quickly.” Astil said as he bustled off to another room in the house.
I hated to admit it, but I was little more than a wet blanket for Plant to carry. I hung limply in his vines as I felt him brush up against me. I felt Plant’s soft touch against my hip as he examined my damage quickly before hoisting me up onto a bed. Astil was quick to return, but he seemed more concerned with tending to Magnet before me. Good. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Plant, stay here with him. See if you can get him to sleep. I’m going to take him to the operating table.” Astil said quietly, obviously trying to keep me out of the conversation. I tried to ignore him, but my stomach dropped at the thought of Magnet being that badly injured.
I heard a door click closed before Plant’s hand gently appeared on my arm. He comfortingly gave me a squeeze as I felt him lean over the bed, probably to look at my light stunned eyes. I flinched a bit as I felt his fingers graze my cheekbones.
“Shh, shh. It’s okay. You’re safe now. I just want to take your helmet off so I can see your eyes better.” Plant whispered quietly to me as I let them remove my armour. I could feel my eyes flitting about, but they weren’t picking anything up.
Plant’s hand gently came to rest in my hair, pulling out some knots as he combed his fingers through. I heard him sigh softly before he laid his head down gently against my chest.
“How do you feel?” Plant asked quietly as he settled in against the side of the bed.
“Horrible, disgusting. I don’t even know what happened to Magnet...”
“He’ll be fine. Astil will fix him right up.” Plant reassured me, but I could pick up the wavered concern in his voice.
“Thank you.” I managed to squeak out quietly.
“Hmm.” Plant hummed in assurance. “You should try and get some rest. Close your eyes. You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“I can imagine.” I tried to picture how different I looked all done up in my armour, and now all of the battle damage on top of that.
“Shh, it’s okay.” Plant soothed quietly. “I’ll stay right here with you.”
I nodded as I tipped my head further back to try and make myself relax. My whole body was still tense from the adrenaline. The shock of my hip injury hadn’t even had time to set in yet. It had all happened so quick.
And yet, it all felt so, unsatisfying. It left a bad taste in my mouth. The whole fight took less than two minutes. Months of training, working myself to the framework, late nights planning and helping the others. For what? To get taken out by a flashlight? How embarrassing. Now I understood why all of the Wily bots were so...disappointed, dissatisfied. Rock shrugged that fight off like it was nothing. And he didn’t even know it was coming until a few hours ago. Meanwhile, I’d been sparring for hours with Quick and Magnet to build up reflexive muscle memory. It all felt so, pointless now. Hours of training only extended my chances of actually beating Rock by seconds. I understood now how easily a lot of them had slipped into the lowest points of their lives after their debut fights.
The hip pains were really starting to hit now that my processor had caught up to my body again. And surprisingly annoying aches and pains all over from some of the smaller hits. Plant’s fingers running through my hair was a good distraction, but probably not enough to actually offset the pain.
“You don’t have any painblockers, do you?” I asked quietly.
“I could go down to the lab and see.” Plant said as they stood up slowly. “Please stay here, don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
I guess he had the right to be worried about me leaving again. I hadn’t given him all the details of the plan. At least I could tell him I wasn’t leaving here without Magnet.
I really hoped this wasn’t a huge mistake. If anyone was going to help Magnet it’d be Astil. Light was *technically* his Dad as well, but I couldn’t trust him not to try and make changes to Magnet’s programming while he was out.
I hope Magnet wouldn’t be mad that I brought him here. From his perspective some random man, half way around the world, would be trying to sew his head back to his shoulders. Maybe it was a good thing he was already unconscious when we teleported out. I’m sure he’d be fine with it though. He might not be *thrilled* at the idea, but still fine. I’d have to really hype Astil up for him afterwords so he doesn’t get all paranoid.
“Okay, I brought up the strongest connector we had. Do you want me to plug it in for you?” I heard Plant’s hurried footsteps re-enter the room.
“Please, and thank you.” I felt his hands gently graze the side of my face as he rotated the cup around my audio processor, revealing the usb ports inside to connect into my circuits.
The painblockers were, of course, originally invented by Wily for his first line. A simple input to block out pain receptors and pop up alerts. But once the Wily bots got out on the town they spread the things around like wildfire. Less potent ones, but still enough to be detrimental to a bot who didn’t know their threshold. Last summer they were shown off at the national robotics fair though, and since then they’ve only been getting stronger. And to be honest, I certainly wasn’t complaining right now. My body was almost peacefully silent as Plant hooked me up.
“So...?”
“Much better, thank you.”
“Good, that’s good. Now you need to get some sleep. You look exhausted.” Plant said as I felt a blanket being pulled over me. “Dad wants my help in the basement now, are you okay by yourself up here?”
“I’m okay now, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Mmph, good. Okay, yell if you need anything.” Plant’s footsteps slowly drew away, back down towards the lab.
I folded my arms under my head and tried to loosen up. The back of my mind was still humming with thoughts and ‘what if’s’. I tried to push them all to the back for now and tune them all out.
I listened to the hum of a fan in the room, barely making a breeze fast enough to be refreshing. I could head the whirring on machinery below me somewhere, probably in the operating room. Birds chirped outside, a stark contrast to the scene here inside. Water was running somewhere else in the house, probably connected up to Astil’s greenhouse garden.
And then, quiet. Quieter than I’d grown accustomed to. No running down the halls, no laughter and mockery from the livingroom. No distant sounds of blasters and metal clashing in the training room. No quiet murmur of private conversations just out of range. This’d be the hardest thing to get used to again... Dammit, I already missed the Wily Fortress. This was going to do a real number on my sleep schedule. At least things at home might be a bit more lively while we’re all getting repaired. Ease back into the normal life.
It still felt like things would be anything BUT normal for the next few months, but it was a nice thought.
I could feel myself drifting off now, quietly succumbing to weeks of malnutrition and newly onset exhaustion. My body felt so weak, even with the pain blocker. I softly tugged up the blanket around my neck and shuffled around to get comfy. Finally letting the first waves of sleep take me to my much needed rest.

........

Chapter Text

Still no word from Pharaoh. He’d essentially disappeared from our local network. Dad was really starting to panic now, I could tell by the frantic tone of his messages, but the remaining four of us tried to keep him calm.
We hadn’t seen any movement from Rock either. As far as we knew he was still in Pharaoh’s chambers. Either that or he’d somehow teleported out. There was no telling now that Pharaoh wasn’t there to give an all-clear call. The fact that we hadn’t seen Rock yet though suggested that he’d taken a step out for repairs.
“You don’t think Pharaoh won, do you?” I asked Needle as we shared a small lunch. We were going on half an hour with no contact.
“I think it’s more likely that Megaman just left for repairs. Pharaoh was probably really close though.” Needle slurped down the remaining broth from his cup. “If another half hour goes by we can go any check? I mean, you’re last on the list, right?”
“Right. I guess that’d be the smart thing to do...but...what if he did win? What if Rock is just dead down there?”
“I’m sure we would have heard from Light, if not Wily, if he had actually won. Wily would have spread the news in a matter of seconds.”
“Yeah. That’s true.” I sighed as I finished up my lunch. “I’m just worried about Pharaoh, what if Rock took him back to Light’s Labs?”
“Light won’t hurt Pharaoh. I’d only be worried about Ring or Skull. And both of them are still accounted for.” Needle tried to set my mind at ease.
I knew my imagination was starting to run wild. I don’t know if I couldn’t sit through another three fights like this. My arms were taking a beating from how hard I was squeezing myself. Anything to try and ground myself in the moment. Needle had to release my death grip a few times now, but he did it with an experienced understanding of what it felt like.
We sat quietly for another few minites before we got an update from Ring.
“Just got the trespasser notification. Rock’s back. Still no word from Pharoah.”
I wasn’t sure if I should be relieved or concerned. On one hand, Rock was still on his way, but the other side of that still left Pharaoh unaccounted for.
“Pharaoh’s a big guy. He can take care of himself for a little while longer. You need to get out of your head.” Needle reminded me as he gently squeezed me closer.
“I know...I know.” I huffed as I got up and stretched again. “Maybe you could think of a way to help keep me distracted~” I suggested as I watched Needle blush.
Fuck, he was as cute as ever.
“I really don’t think now’s the time for anything like that...” his response was meek and to the point. I wasn’t going to push him.
“That’s fine.”
I paused as I received the message that Ring had been defeated. Shadow had teleported him back to the lab and was heading back to the fortress.
“That wasn’t long.”
“It never is. We’ve only been out here for about and hour. Most of it was just waiting to hear back.”
“How long did it take for him to go through your line?”
“Mmm, a little bit longer than this, but we were pretty spread out. He had to run for repairs after my fight too.”
“Damn, I guess I should have paid more attention when you were giving lessons then.” I teased a bit as he smiled.
“You didn’t miss much. Aim for the body and expect to hit the arms and legs by the time he moves.” He reiterated. Of course I’d been listening for his lessons. It was hard to zone out when the instructor was so cute.
We waited in silence for another little while as I got word back from the others that Rock should be pulling up to my station anytime now. The intruder signal startled me a bit, but it really hit me like a brick that this was the real thing now.
“Any last minute advi-“ I was cut off as Needle wrapped me in a tight hug.
“I love you so much...All you have to know is that I’m going to be right here waiting for you.”
Oh no, I could feel the threat of tears welling up in my eyes as I gave Needle a squeeze back reassuringly. Maybe I should be more worried about this. This could get totally out of hand really quickly if something went wrong.
“Don’t cry, you’re gunna make me cry too.” Needle said as he leaned in to kiss my cheeks. “It’ll be over soon.”
“I know. Thank you.” I gave him a kiss back as he reluctantly let me go. He quickly made his way back into his hiding spot as I turned to face the large rolling shutter door that separated us from the rest of the chaos.
Now it was hitting me, the wave of doubt and stress. Needle said it was going to hit me like this, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this bad. I hadn’t even done anything yet.
The door rolled open slowly and shut behind Rock as he entered the final room. He looked horrible. Beat up, physically and mentally. I guess that was the plan all along though for Wily. He knew it would absolutely kill him to be fighting us.
“Dust...please.” He looked like he was on the verge of tears as well as he stood infront of me.
I wiped my eyes quickly to hopefully hide my own tears as he examined me.
“I can’t offer you anything that the others haven’t already said.” I managed to string together a sentance shakily as I felt something shift in my mind. “I will be your final opponent.”
“Please Dust! We don’t have to fight!” I watched as he brandished Ring’s weapon in one hand as his armour colour changed. A good pick on his part, lucky guess.
I braced myself and fired off the first three projectiles his direction. I heard one make satisfying contact with his leg guard. He tried to throw the boomerangs my direction but I’d had a bit of practice leaning how to avoid them at this point.
His next attack was slower, more calculated, as I slowly reloaded the crusher to ready my next volley. He fired the ring down at he ground to hit my legs. I barely managed to jump over it in time. Unfortunately for him he’d judged my jumping distance wrong as I landed beside him. I staggered him for a moment, but he regained his footing just in time to dodge the next volley of projectiles. We weren’t going anywhere fast. This dance was slow and methodical.
He’d seen my arsenal now, he knew I was only working with range. His next move was to try and get up close with me. I watched as his colour slowly changed as he brought out Drill’s weapon. That was going to hurt if I let him get too close. I quickly made tracks to back up as he started trying to push me towards a corner. My instinct said to not let him push me back that far, but I couldn’t risk him getting too close. Although, maybe I could...
He was trying to bait out my next volley of shots, but I wasn’t giving in. It took me too long to reload, and at this rate I probably wouldn’t have another chance to. He hadn’t got me to a corner, but he seemed to have his mind made up as he charged me. I held my shot until it would be too late for him to jump out of the way. It was like buckshot to the face. That also unfortunately meant that I didn’t have time either to get out of the way from the drill.
It felt horrible as it ripped up the right side of my body, only stopping when it jammed into my collarbone. I managed to kick Rock off of me as we both fell backwards in pain. I got back to my feet first though, which gave me the opportunity to slam my foot down against his helmet as he was left reeling. The crunch of metal delighted me in the moment as I continued to push down. His arm quickly flailed up to grip around my boots but it wasn’t enough to stop me.
The puddle on liquid on the other hand...something sunk in my stomach as I watched the black liquid seep out of his nose and earguard. I quickly pulled back as Rock struggled to get back up. What was I doing? I could have actually killed him like that! The tears once again threatened to start pouring out.
Rock’s one eye was blacked out, likely popped from the buckshot or from the pressure. His aim was still good enough to crack me with the ring boomerang as it formed again in his hands. Stunned, he kicked me hard in the leg to buckle me onto the floor, where he quickly wrapped a ring boomerang around my arms and legs.
He flooped down on the floor, exhausted, as I struggles to sit up and fight to get the rings off.
“Holy cow, Dust. You’re programmed extra mean right now.” Rock slowly tipped his head back at the oil kept gushing. I’d probably broken a line or something.
“Ugh! Just go!” I yelled as the ring boomerang around my legs snapped from the tension. Or maybe Rock had just let it break.
“Please, let me take you back to Light with me.” He practically begged, but I could tell he wouldn’t wait around too long for an answer. At least not with the state he was in.
“I’ll be fine...Cossack will be waiting for you.”
He gave me one last displeased look before he teleported away. Needle was back at my side instantly to help break the last boomerang and pick me up protectively, covering me in peppered kisses as he did. He was gentle on my damaged side as he picked me up bridal style. Especially since we both knew I wasn’t going to get repairs until Dad had the chance to step out and fix me. Rock would be on the warpath right now up to see Dad.
“You did so good babe, I’m so proud of you.” Needle eventually gave in and broke the silence.
“Thanks...why do I feel so...bad though?”
He gave me a quizzical look, looking for more information.
“I dunno, I’ll think about it.”
I was thinking about it right now. I had Rock at a disadvantage. I could have popped his head right off his shoulders. A part of my coding even *wanted* to do it for a moment. Why did I want to? Why did I stop? I tried to push the flood of thoughts away for now as the pain from my injuries slowly caught up with me.
“Will you take me home now?” I asked weakly as Needle nodded.
“Of course babe, let’s get you home.”

Chapter Text

What had changed?
I stood at the master control panel of a borrowed machine. White knuckled around the levers that operated the vehicle. The sight of a bot I once considered an inspiration now left me with a sour taste in my mouth. Something bitter welled up in my voice as I berated the young hero.
Maybe it was the fact that I’d seen first hand now what had become of the Wily bots. Truly some of the most advanced robots in the field were little more than house ornaments now. Maybe it was the fact that I was going to have to watch my bots go through the same thing. My anger should be towards Wily, I knew this. But something about these past few months had brought out the worst in me.
A part of me did truly believe that Wily was right. His robots can and would take over, eventually. Even without Wily pulling the strings I could picture them working their way up the heirarchy over time. He was already making them self sufficient; they dominated any lower robots they came across. But Rock, something was wrong about Rock. I knew it, they knew it, the world knew it. Surely that much purpose would crush him, eventually. Then what. What was it that was keeping him going? Why could he spring into action on a hairpin trigger and out perform hard wired combat robots on the regular. What was hid deep down in his coding?
I understood some of Wily’s frustrations with the blue bomber, and I certainly shared his intrigue now that he’d pointed it out to me. What did he possess that these bots didn’t.
It wasn’t the duty to protect his family. That was what tore Metal apart, processor to limb over his failure right out of the gate. It wasn’t the desire for praise, the Wily bots would bend over backwards for approval. But the desire still wasn’t strong enough to outpace Rock. It wasn’t the thirst for power or fame. Humility being key in the public eye. And it certainly wasn’t vengeance. Not against his half brothers in the third attack. Not against my boys. Revenge hadn’t completely left my mind, but if it was anything it was Light’s old spats that fueled the hatred for Wily.
It was sick to imagine Rock as merely an extension on Light’s old rage. A way to get back at Wily and still show him up all these years later. Maybe Light didn’t have the power himself to face down Wily, but he sure as hell could build a bot to act as his warning shot.
Looking down at this small bot now. He was exhausted and broken. Mentally and physically. I truly wouldn’t wish his burden an anyone else.
Maybe that was it, burden. Who else would do his job. Light was counting on him to uphold his reputation. The world was counting on him to keep them safe. Other robots idolized him as the link between human and robot relations. He had nowhere to go from here. It was fight or die trying to uphold those expectations.

...

The fight we had was short. Rock had helped pull me from the debris of the machine before Wily had arrived to announce his master plan. I had tried to reassure Rock in the moment, but his eyes seemed so glassy and distant. I gave him a hug before sending him off. Leaving me once again to my own thoughts. At least not for very long. I heard the teleport signal as my ticket home arrived.
“I believe that’s set and match Cossack.” Flash quickly helped me back to my feet from the pile of crumpled machinery. “You have fulfilled you end of the agreement, so it’s time for us to get you back home.”
“Shouldn’t you be back at the fortress? With the others?” I asked, a bit concerned after the security breach this morning.
“I’m...well...I’ve got orders to help you with the clean up. And the repair of the others. If you’ll let me of course!” I was a little taken back by the remark.
“Really? Did Wily-?”
“No...Quick did actually. He said they’d be able to handle things back home if anything did happen. Wily doesn’t know I left yet.” He admitted.
“I would gladly have you help me. I’m sure my boys would be happy to see a friendly face as well. Most of them at least.” I got a laugh out of him as I vaguely suggested Ring.
“Alright then, let’s get you home. Maybe then we can track down where Pharaoh and Magnet got off to.”
In a flash of light we were back in a lab that I hadn’t seen in months.
My family photos and degrees hung on the walls. My favourite mug was collecting dust on my desk. The aloe plant on my windowsill was barely clinging to life. And my boys, all my beautiful brave sons were lied out on their respective operating tables. New ones had been dragged into the room for Skull and Ring, making the room look a little more cluttered than usual, but it was a sight for sore eyes. The entourage of third liners also probably contributed to the cluttered feeling as they all did their best to take care of my boys in my absence.
“Dad! You’re okay!”
Bright! Of course is was Bright who flung themselves into my arms as I lifted them up gently. A few dents here and there, but they looked to be mostly intact. Ring as well seemed just a little bruise and banged up, but the others hadn’t gotten off so easily.
“Looks like we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us now, don’t we.” I looked down at Bright as he rubbed the tears from his face. “How about we start by finding your big brother?”
“Oh! Dr. Astil sent you an message earlier!” Top relayed quickly as he pushed my desk chair up behind me so I could take a seat. “He said Pharaoh and Magnet were with him, but didn’t give any other details.”
“I could go pay them a visit, Doctor.” I turned as Shadow spoke softly. He was gently addressing Ring’s shoulder joint as he eavesdropped.
“Ah...maybe. But please stay out of sight if you can. The last thing I want is to scare them.” I loosely ordered as Shadow nodded in affirmation.
“I will leave momentarily.”
“I’ll live, Shadow.” Ring spoke up sorely, obvious a bit annoyed with the delicate care he was receiving. “Go get your brother.”
The two did exchange a small smile as he left, dissolving into the floor as he did. I could already tell the gesture didn’t go unnoticed around the room.
“Well look at you two! I don’t think We’ve even seen Shadow smile like that!” Gemini made the first remark, which got a groan out of the remaining cast. “What? It was cute?”
“Shut up, hold this.” Snake thankfully came to Ring’s embarrassing aid as he passed a fluid bag for Gemini to hold above Drill. Ring did look rightly flustered by the remark, but there was clearly more on his mind.
“You had another message from Dr. Light as well Cossack.” Ring added as he slowly slid off his examination table. Truthfully, he looked like he’d recover fairly okay by himself. Just a lot of scorch marks here and there, and some heat exhaustion symptoms that I could readily see. “He wanted to know if you wanted his help fixing them up.”
I looked around the room at the slightly concerned wave of fear that passed over the attending Wily bots. They certainly wouldn’t want to be here if Light was here as well. Truthfully, I didn’t want to drive them off. It felt terribly inconsiderate now.
“I’ll get back to him later, let me get a good reading on all the damage first and then I’ll make my decision.”
Even at a glance I knew their repairs weren’t going to be quick. It would take the better part of a few weeks just to get everyone standing again, let alone functioning properly. I suppose the best time to start was now.
I was bent over Dust, inspecting the large ripped gash up his side when suddenly all the third liners went stiff. They must have just heard back from Shadow. I quickly turned to Needle who couldn’t hold back the onslaught of stress and tears.
“He almost ripped Magnet’s head off! I’ll kill that bastard!” I did my best to hold Needle supportively as Top quickly rolled over to hold onto his baby brother as well.
“Shhhh, shhhh. It’s okay! Dr. Astil is helping him. Snake will you-“ Top turned to look at the medic, but he seemed paralyzed with dread.

....

Shit, god, damnit...
I certainly hadn’t expected the day to turn out like this. I had just finished packing to teleport out when Pharaoh and his friend landed on the porch. At least I had the luxury of working in my own lab on such a delicate task, but truthfully, I don’t know if I could really pull this off.
Plant was my only robot master, and he’d never really been injured like this. I didn’t even know where to start. The only thing keeping his head attached to his body right now was his spinal column. Which, understandably, wasn’t in the best of shape. The rest looked like it had almost been torn out by something as it passed through. I didn’t have any of the details, but I assumed it was from fighting Rock.
I’d managed to convince his offline systems to let him armour down. His beautiful curly red hair was matted and tangled with oil. His poor eyes left in shell shock from the impact. I’d done my best to cover them to protect him from the bright lights of the lab, but I knew underneath that damp cloth was his traumatized gaze.
Pharaoh wasn’t much better. His one hip completely shattered apart to the point where I was surprised his leg was still attached to his body. His eyes wide and milky white around the edges, obviously blind. A number of dents and nicks that hid any internal damage for now.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t be my priority. I was instead going through the crash course of how to revive a bot from the brink, and I was terrified I was failing.
“Plant! Can you help me!” I yelled for my boy as he quickly came up beside me. “I need to connect these tubes again, but I can’t find where this one’s been cut from.” I notted a few spots before he got right to work, hands already stained black from pulling around this bots internals. It was times like this I was grateful to have an extra set of hands around the lab.
“I think...I’ve got this one connected.” Plant pulled something, which triggered and involuntary twitch from the bot. “It doesn’t look like anything is happening though...” Plant looked solemnly as he continued to connect tubes and wires. “Is he going to be okay?”
“...I don’t know.” I tried to get straight to the point. “We’re going to do our best, okay?”
Plant nodded along with a determined look in his eyes. I hoped I wouldn’t have to be the one to shatter that ambition.
We continued working for hours, slowly connecting the puzzle pieces of frayed wires and melted plastic. This was horrible. I really didn’t know how Light did it; I don’t know how Wily could stomach it. If Plant came back to me in this condition I’d be heartbroken. Now I was supposed to be helping Cossack sew his boys back together.
Plant and I both jumped back as the bot made an uncomfortable groaning noise. Maybe that was a sign we were successful? But there was no way he should be able to function right now! He was barely circulating any fluids, and his nerve system would be absolutely shot.
To both of our amazement we watched as his arm slowly raised up to his face to carefully move the cloth I’d placed over his eyes. They were screwed shut in pain as he peaked the lab for the first time. His neck refused to articulate to let him look much further, but I could see the panic starting to boil.
“Hey, try not to move, okay. I’ll go get you a pain blocker.” Plant quietly cooed before leaving.
“Oh, friend. You should not be awake.” I quickly made my way within eyeshot, which admittedly probably scared him. “Let me get some suppost under your head.”
He quietly objected with soft whines and gritted teeth as I added some support around his head. A few times he tried to reach for me, but his hand-eye coordination was way off. I wiped under his eyes as I spotted the first signs of stress bubble up again.
“You’re okay, I know. Pharaoh brought you here so you’d be safe.” I informed him as he scrunched his eyes closed. “You’re a lucky bot, I’ll say that much for sure.”
“Here! This should take some of that pain away.” Plant quickly got to work untangling some wires from a box and hooked the bot up with little fuss.
The change was gradual, but the tension eventually left their body.
“That’s it. Good lad. We’re going to get you fixed up, okay? You need to rest and let us work some more.”
He looked a little more relaxed now. I wanted to give him some time to calm down before getting him to turn off again. The last thing I wanted was a stressed out Wily bot in my lab.
“My name is Dr. Pedro Astil, this is my son Plantman. We’re friends with Dr. Cossack. That’s probably why Pharaoh felt safe bringing you here.” I explained breifly as he peaked an eye open at me. I could see black seeping lines on the edges of his eyes, something burst from the fight likely. “Pharaoh also briefly told us what was happening. We were going to teleport over and help Cossack repair his boys.”
I watched as his eyes wandered as far as they could around the room to inspect his surroundings. He seemed to be calming down now that we could explain everything.
“Pharaoh is in the other room resting now. He’ll be alright once we get him home.” Plant added. He must have caught a feeling I’d missed in the bot’s gaze.
Plant seemed absolutely fascinated with this bot now that we had time to slow down. I was actually surprised he was being so talkative. Maybe he was just trying to be reassuring. Or at least trying to put this bot at ease.
“Do you think you could turn off for a while so we could finish our quick repairs? I’d like to see some liquid filtering before we do too much else.” I explained quietly as the bot gently closed his eyes again, shuffling stiffly to get move comfortable.
We waited a few minutes to ensure he was off before we started to work again.
“Do you think he’ll be able to teleport if we can get some support back in his neck? So he can at least sit up right?” Plant asked as we continued fusing and melting wires and tubes.
“I hope so, the sooner we can get over to Cossack’s the better. Better for all of us.”

........

Chapter Text

I had been excused from the lab for now while Dad worked on addressing the worst of the damage on the others. My wounds weren’t nearly as life threateing as some of the others. What a little monster. Who breaks chest plating just to make a point? A few broken hips and shoulders I could understand, restricting your enemies abilities, but ripping through the air filters, energy supplies, and spinal column was just more destructive than it was worth. Especially if you were supposed to be recovering these bots. I could at least excuse the damage if it was Skull or myself, since he didn’t know us, but he’d actually been pretty lenient with me. He did overheat me to the point where I passed out, but he’d been surprisingly courteous to avoid my more delicate ‘organs’. Maybe because I was returning the sentiment. I was only told to try and apprehend him. My attacks were all restraint based, so I’d been trying to focus on only the arms and legs. Which, to my own credit, I did get his legs wound up pretty good before we were both too hot to move. He was lucky his heat tolerance was higher than mine, otherwise he would have been in trouble.
Huh, that actually hadn’t occurred to me in the moment. What if I had actually caught Megaman? I had him right where I wanted him, he was only able to hold me off because he’d gotten Pharaoh’s weapon first. I *could* have done it, in the right circumstance. I’d never really had the desire to actually kill him, nothing in my system really screamed to finish him off or anything. I was mad that Pharaoh was missing, and it was obviously his fault, but even that didn’t make me want to kill him. Not really, anyways. At least, I didn’t think it did.
When I could see my opening, his back and neck exposed while he fought to get the restraints off his legs, I was mad that I couldn’t move to attack him. Forced to kneel and pant like an animal because my systems were all locked up. He didn’t look much better. He’d full on just lied down, fully open to attack. My knees and hips were killing from being strained as I’d tried to force myself forward. Just a few feet closer and I could have raked my fingers into his soft tissue and shredded his wires.
But, now, I was lying on the couch with every ice pack in the house lined along my body. Stuck reliving my several seconds of slow torment. I was starting to realize why the Wily bots cared so much; even as breif as my fight was I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to experince it. Let alone my friends and family.
They were going to be devastated, my brothers. They were more invested, they’ve seen the long term effects, they knew what the consequences were for themselves. I had no idea what was in store for me, and that ignorance might actually be saving me from whatever my brothers would be going through. I couldn’t imagine what Dad was going to have to deal with either. He was going to have a hell of a time trying to explain everything that had happened. Kalinka too...I hadn’t even met her yet. She didn’t deserve to have any of this happen to her.
I jumped out of my pitiful daydream as I heard knocking down one of the hallways. Maybe the front door? I didn’t know the lay out of this place yet. Truthfully, I didn’t even know where we were. I assume this was Cossack’s home? But I hadn’t really gotten the details. It looked so much different than the fortress. Then again, I didn’t really know what a ‘home’ was supposed to look like.
The knocking continued for a few minutes before I regretfully forced myself up to my feet. It didn’t look like anyone else was going to answer the door, so I suppose I should. It still hurt like hell to walk, but the tenderness was slowly starting to fade as I stretched out. It took me a little while playing marco-polo with the knocking as well, I was trying to keep track of where I’d come from but this place was very open compared to the fortress. Less defensible.
I did eventually find the culprit of the noise, and I opened the door without even thinking about who would be on the other side. I probably looked absolutely shell shocked to this old guy. White hair and beard, heavy set, late 60’s maybe? And this young girl. Blonde hair, young, red coat, a young teenager maybe? Kalinka? No definitely a robot.
The smaller robot quickly put themselves between myself and the old man in a defensive stance, but with no real reason for me to engage with these two now that they’d stopped making a racket...I just closed the door.
I waited to see what they would do. I held the door closed with my foot, just in case they tried to invite themselves in. It only took another minute before they knocked again. A part of me wanted to see how long they’d keep this up, but another more demanding part of me wanted to go lie back down on the couch. Really, I shouldn’t be letting strangers go unchecked on the property though, and it didn’t look like anyone else was going to step up. I shot Bright a quick message with the descriptions of the two before I opened the door again.
“-Ah! Hello! Um, we’ve never met, at least, I don’t think we have...but I’m friends with Dr. Cossack. We’re here to help.” The older gentleman said with a hand firmly planted on the girls shoulder. My gut told me to be wary around her.
“...No thank you.” I went to close the door but was quickly interrupted.
“Wait wait! Please, can you go and tell Cossack that Dr. Light is here?”
I tried not to give away the shock that went through my systems as I could finally put a name to a face. This was Dr. Light? Megaman’s creator? How easy it would be to take him by surprise here. The jig must be up with Wily. He must have claimed responsibility by now for this string of ‘glorious’ attacks. Why else would he be here to help the man who just tried to take over the world.
“...I will let him know. Stay here.” I shut the door firmly and locked it behind me as I checked my messages from Bright.
‘FUCK! Keep him out if you can! We have to get all the Wily bot’s out!’
‘What am I supposed to do?’
‘Just, distract him! Ask him about Rock? I’ll tell Dad.’
Fine, I could be a distraction for a while. Truthfully, I saw more value in the Wily bot’s help currently than this single stranger. He had a lot of heavy lifting to do before I would give him an edge. I opened the door again to address the two.
“Cossack said he’ll be out in a few moments.” I straight face lied as the two waited for my verdict.
“May we come inside while we wait?” The robot girl asked politely, but I saw through it immediately.
“No. I will accompany you out here though in the meantime.” I said as I stepped out onto the porch of the building. Thankfully there was a handful of chairs out here around that looked out over the yard. I carefully sat myself down as I put my ice pack on my hip.
“Has Cossack already repaired you?” Dr. Light asked as he found a seat on one of the other chairs, the girl following suit.
“No, I have minimal injures compared to the others. I’ve just had some painblockers and some ice so far.”
“Would you let me look?” He asked almost too quickly.
“No.” I was assertive. He was already being too nosy for my liking.
“Ah...my apologies. That came off a little too bold. I’d love to help you feel better, It would be little more than a look over, nothing intrusi-“
“No.” I repeated. He looked a little dumbfounded.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on why the Wily bot’s were so afraid of this guy. Maybe it was just because he seemed so nervous right now just being around me. Being around an unknown combat bot must be intimidating though. He was right to be afraid.
“Well, you aren’t very sociable, are you.” The girl stated which caught me off guard. The hint off sass was a welcome reason for a rebuttal.
“Well, my apologies for not making a good first impression. I have a track record for having an attitude.” They clearly weren’t expecting the snarky attitude. None of Cossack’s other bots were this rude.
“Attitude? You mean you have a personality?” She remarked again, which got Dr. Light a bit worried.
“Roll! This is no way to behave. Especially not now.”
“Don’t look at me! He’s the one being all up tight.” She huffed as I felt a content smirk cross my lips.
“Up tight? I’ve had too many painblockers to be up tight.”
“Geez, you must be a real gem.”
“Roll!” Dr. Light once again scolded her for talking back. He was clearly trying to avoid instigating anything, but I was still all wound up from my fight.
“Dr. Light!” I turned as the front door opened as the frazzled looking Cossack joined us on the porch.
The two of them shared a hug breifly before stepping back to give each other a once over.
“We came as soon as we could. Rock should be back shortly with Kalinka as well. I was so worried when I saw the news!” Dr. Light said as Dad took a seat beside me for a moment to catch his breath. I tried not to dote on Cossack, but I could tell he was already going through it.
“Thank you, sincerely. I owe your family a great deal.” His words felt empty. He knew we were never in any danger.
“Is everything alright Cossack?” Light immediately leaned in too close for comfort so I tried to move in and block him from getting into Dad’s personal space. Light backed up quickly as Dad put a hand on my shoulder.
“It’s okay, Ring.” Dad gently ran his hand through my hair as he took some deep breaths. Obviously more comforting for him than it was for me. “Light, did you see what happened between Pharaoh, Rock, and Magnet?”
“I-! No, Pharaoh knocked out Rock’s communications before I saw anything. He came back for repairs afterwards in tears. He said he hit Magnet on accident...and I believe him.” Light added that last part with a bit of an assertive tone. Really? This was going to be what they fought over? Magnet was even partially his bot!
“On accident? So was he aiming at Pharaoh with that shot?” I could sense the first wells of tears in Dad’s tone.
“...I don’t know. Either way he shouldn’t have done it. Whether it was Pharaoh or a Wily bot.”
That response wasn’t sitting right with Dad. He had this look on his face. Somewhere between anger and dread. That very well could have been Pharaoh on the receiving end of that shot, but at least that was planned for. Not that it sounded particularly pleasant either. From what the Wily bots had said Magnet was nearly dead.
“It wasn’t a Wily bot. It was Magnet, your son.”
“They are not my family anymore. They made their choice to live with Wily.” Light responded as seriously as he could. “Cossack aren’t there more important things to be discussing now?”
“Their other choice was deactivation.” Dad added. I tried not to look as uncomfortable as I felt around the topic. “Now he’s fighting for his life because he got between Rock and Pharaoh fighting, to what would have been their deaths.”
Light looked a little shocked. Dad was really just guessing though. We wouldn’t actually know what happened until Pharaoh and Magnet got back. It seemed like a logical conclusion though. At least given the circumstances.
“I know, you’re upset right now...and you have every right to be. But, you have a lab full of bots that need taken care of. I’m here to help. You can be mad at me all you want once we have everyone back online.”
Compromise, a wise man’s forfeit. Light wasn’t going to win that conversation; at least he knew better than to try and argue right now.
“Thank you for the offer, truly. But I won’t be needing your help. You may stay here until Rock arrives...”Cossack paused to check his watch. “You may stay for the night, I’m sorry I couldn’t accommodate you better, but you are not permitted in the lab. You’ll scare your sons, and I need them to be focused right now.”
Cossack turned briskly and headed back inside. Not before giving me a nod to hand over the authority to me. I gladly accepted his terms as I held the door for our two guests before they had time to rebuttal Cossack’s remarks. That last part seemed to be hitting the two of them now. I don’t think they were expecting to be rejected like that.
“Come, you can stay in the common room with me. At least I can pretend to keep an eye on you.” I mumbled the last part as I slowly found my way back to my recovery couch. The two followed me cautiously as I breifly caught a glimpse of a search snake darting into what appeared to be the kitchen.
Slowly, I eased myself back down onto the couch and made a sweeping motion towards the other furnature in the room for the two to have their pick. My ice pack fortress was a welcome respite, and the elevation was nice on my knees.
It was quiet for a while, Light and his daughter spoke to each other softly, but I wasn’t able to focus for long enough to catch any parts of their conversation. My struggle to stay awake seemed to be a losing battle, but I doubt my systems would let me be unconscious around this man for long. My quiet time was rudely interupted as I heard the furniture creak as Roll switched seats to sit closer to me.
“What did Cossack say your name was again?” She asked in a somewhat quieter tone.
“...Ring. It’s nice to meet you, Roll. I’ve heard nothing but horror stories about you for the past two weeks.” I peeked at her to see if I could get a rise out of her again.
“Horror stories! No!” She looked offended. “Like what?”
“You’d be worse to fight than Megaman. That’s why we aren’t allowed to mess with you.” I laughed a bit to myself. In retrospect it seemed kind of silly to be afraid of her.
“Pfft! That’s not a horror story! That’s just a fact!”
“Ha! Sure it is.” I rolled my eyes as I clocked Light again. He seemed to be in full on observation mode. “You’re not as scary as the others made you out to be. Maybe you’ve just yet to make yourself intimidating.”
“I hope I’m not intimidating at all!”
“Well, your reputation proceeds you. Both of you. They hate talking about your family.” I gave her an inch to see if she’d run with it.
“I don’t blame them...” she said quietly as she slumped a bit. She knew her family was guilty of at least some of the rumors I’d heard. “They’re bad now though. So they can’t be trusted.”
“That’s funny. They say the same thing about you.” I tried to double up and get her more emotional.
She was smart though. She didn’t give me a response.
We were startled out of our interrogation as I heard a teleport signal in another room of the house. I was still on high alert after our surprise visitor this morning, so I wasn’t going to take any chances. I’d left the couch before I’d even registered the movement.
I turned the corner into the kitchen area to stand a few feet away from the heavily injured Megaman. He was slowly helping a young blonde haired girl find her footing after the teleport. She had fresh scratch marks across her cheek and neck. Something snapped to the front of my mind; this is Kalinka, she’s hurt, protect her.
I’d spartan kicked Megaman over into one of the kitchen chairs as I put myself between him and my sister. He was in absolute shock as I heard someone else yell behind me. I quickly turned about face and crouched down to look at Kalinka’s cuts. Her eyes were full of tears as she threw her arms over my shoulders. I was glad my programming had taken over for the moment, because I wasn’t confident I’d be this comforting otherwise.
“Get your hands off of her Wily bot!” Megaman yelled at me as I picked Kalinka up, still clinging to my chest.
“What? Are you gunna kill me too?” I egged on as Roll quickly squeezed past me to try and calm her brother down.
He lowered his weapon slowly as I left the two alone. Light did not look impressed with me, but he kept his mouth shut as I passed. Cossack and Bright were already sprinting into the living room as I brough Kalinka in to them.
I put her down and let Cossack pick her up. Smothering her in hugs and kisses and tears. It was almost enough to make me tear up, but I knew there were still threats in the house. I could feel myself bristle up as Megaman made his entrance. He didn’t try to approach, maybe he’d already learned to keep his distance.
“Come here, Rock! Thank you for bringing my baby girl back.” Cossack invited Rock over, but I subconsciously intercepted him. “Oh...Ring. It’s-“
I’d already places myself defensively between Cossack and the Light family. I knew they wouldn’t hurt Cossack or Kalinka, but maybe a part of me still believed they’d hurt me and the others.
“Ring, it’s okay.” Bright was at my side quickly, but I could tell the look I gave him didn’t fill him with courage. “Sorry, you lead.”
I wasn’t expecting Bright to back down, but the tension in the room was palpable. Without my armour, and limited movement, we were both vaulnerable. I was supposed to support and protect my family, now here the main threat was in the livingroom and the others didn’t seem bothered.
“Rock, come here. He won’t hurt you.” Cossack pushed past me, making sure to send a commanding glare my way before leaning down to welcome the bot in for a hug. “Thank you, truly. I didn’t want to put you through this.”
“No, Cossack it’s okay. I should be the one who’s sorry for letting Wily do this to you!” I caught the edge of Megaman’s gaze as he gave me a strict look. Just wait until he finds out I’m not a Wily bot.
“It’s alright, we made it just fine.”
I jumped a bit as I felt smaller hands wrap around my leg. Kalinka was still safely tucked at my flank as I assessed the tone in the room further. Megaman was going to need repairs, and I could already see the question forming in Light’s mind.
“Would you like me to see them out, Dad?” I made sure to clock everyone’s reactions as I put focus on the last word.
Cossack was quick to turn back on me though, which I wasn’t really expecting. I stumbled a few steps as I tried not to trample Kalinka as I was startled.
“Ring-!” Cossack stopped as he watched me stumble back. He lowered his tone and took a deep breath. “Sorry. Stand down.”
I felt myself almost involuntarily relaxing, the room was still buzzing with intensity thought.
“Sorry, I’ll stop.” I felt Kalinka wrap her arms around my leg again. Bright copied her quickly, but in a more comforting way rather than seeking comfort.
“Thank you.” Cossack offered up a small smile, but it did little to lighten the mood. “I’m sorry I cannot offer you much in terms of repairs. I’m over capacity as it is. I’m sure Bright would help with any minor repairs, Rock. And he can bring you any tools you need, Light.” Cossack was quick to politely diffuse the situation. “Kalinka, honey, will you go to the lab and say hello to everyone?”
“Can Roll come too?” Kalinka asked, still working off the first round of tears.
My spine was rigid at the thought of Roll disrupting the bots as they worked, but I’d already promised to stay out of this conversation.
“Oh course, my love. Bright, go with them for a minute?” Cossack smiled as Roll came right up and took Kalinka’s hand from around my legs. This felt so wrong.
Dad waited until the others were out of earshot before confronting me. I was still trying to hold back the urge to square up with Rock again, but now it was full on fear.
“What’s wrong? What can I do?” Cossack asked quietly as he carefully touched my arm.
I quickly made uncomfortable eye contact with Rock and snapped my line of sight away. Dad looked over his shoulder to no doubt confirm his suspicions.
“What’s going on up here?” He ask, playfully knocking on the side of my head. “Do you still want to fight him?”
“I...don’t think so?” No, I didn’t want to fight him.
“Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“It’s, uncomfortable. Having him here.” I tried to put the feeling into words without admitting I was scared to have him around.
“Do you know why? Are you mad at him?”
“Well, I guess a bit.” I wasn’t sure if he was just trying to put words in my mouth, maybe I should tell him. “It’s more, intimidating, I guess? I’m not able to defend you in this condition from him.”
“Ah, I see.” Cossack gave me a hearty pat on the shoulder. “I’m not worried about Rock hurting us.”
Oh, well that changed things. I felt myself relax a little bit as Cossack slowly walked back over to Rock. He gave him another tight hug, which Rock quickly reciprocated. If Cossack wasn’t afraid of Rock though, than why was he so mad at Light? Why was he so afraid of Light? Maybe for the same reasons the third liners were afraid of him.
“Rock, I’d like to introduce you to one of my new sons. This is Ring.” He waved in my general direction for me to come closer, but my body still refused to move. Probably a mixture of the exhaustion and the fear to be honest.
Rock didn’t seem too keen on introducing himself either, especially not after the kick I’d delivered to him in the kitchen. Light seemed more insistent though. He shot the smaller bot a look that was filled with expectations.
“I was wondering if you’d built them. It’s nice to meet you, Ring.” He almost sounded sincere.
“Ring, aren’t you going to say thank you? For bringing Kalinka home?” Cossack babied at me for a polite answer.
“Yeah...thanks.”
The looks Dad gave me was not a pleasant one. I crossed my arms defensively in case he was going to probe me for a more sincere gratitude.
“Ring...” the disappointment in his tone made me feel sick, but I tried my best not to let it break my composure. “He’s always been the stubborn one.” Dad admitted pointedly towards Rock. Probably to make him feel a bit better.
It was interesting to see the shift in relationship that Cossack had with Rock versus how spiteful he’d been towards Light earlier. Dad seemed to really care about Rock. He was obviously going to great lengths to make him feel comfortable here. Light was still getting the cold shoulder though. This intrigued me to poke deeper into their history with each other, but maybe not anytime soon. There was still a lot to sort out.
“That’s alright, Cossack. Can I lie down for a bit?” Rock asked in a softer tone now. Maybe he really was just a kid.
“Of course. Let me run upstairs and grab some more pillows.”
I used this opportunity it see myself back to the couch that I’d already claimed. Unfortunately, it looked like I would be having some company.
Dad hurried back downstairs and set up the second couch with some pillows and blankets. He also took this moment to tuck another pillow under my head as I tried to get comfortable again. My systems were finally starting to report back normal temperatures, so now I was just dealing with the residual aches and pains.
“Are you going to be okay out here? Because Rock is going to be staying here for a bit to rest.” Cossack asked me as I tried not to watch Rock make himself more comfortable.
“I’ll be fine. I won’t try to cause any more problems.” Cossack chuckled a bit at my response.”
“You? Cause trouble? No way!” His sarcasm was a nice respute from the dower mood. I snuggled myself back into the ice pack fort and settled in for a few hours of uncomfortable glances and distrusting glares.
Bright and Roll had eventually returned from the lab, neither of them seemed keen on sharing any details from the interaction. But, true to his word, Bright had begun to help Light do some small repairs for Rock. It was funny watching him run back and forth between the lab and the living room. The only other time I saw him move this fast was during training. Maybe his time stopper was a good tool for repairs, at least, in a way. I couldn’t tell if he was actually using it, but it seemed like a reasonable assumption.
In the brief moments he was gone though, I was still struck with this unreasonable concern about Rock. He wasn’t a threat anymore, he was lying on the couch with some of his insides hanging out, but there was still something...wrong. Maybe this wasn’t how I pictured the saviour of humankind. He was pretty small, and he seemed really young too. I bet he was actually a pretty good bot. The Wily bots always made him out to be this war machine. But he looked so vaulnerable right here. I guess they never really got to see this side of him though.
Maybe I was worried FOR him, not about him. He did look pretty beat up...But something was still bothering me about Light. I don’t know if Dad was just stressed or if he was actually trying to point blame at Light for how the third liners were living. But it felt weird.
“Did you really say you’d deactivate the third liners if they returned to you?” I blurted out the question before I could stop myself. I mentally kicked myself for the sudden spike in curiosity.
The look on Rock’s face said everything I needed to know. He was laughably readabe outside of combat. Those wide eyes with the threat of tears already looming. On the verge of total breakdown with one sentance. Light on the other hand, looked rigid, like he was calculating his answer before he gave it to me.
“I don’t think that’s an appropriate question right now.” I put my hands up casually. No skin off my back if he didn’t want to admit to it.
“Then can I ask about Pharaoh? And Magnet?” I still wasn’t on great terms with Magnet, but I still wanted the truth. From Rock.
“He...Magnet tried to block my shot.” Rock sighed. Admitting his temporary weakness. “Pharaoh was blind, and already incapacitated. I shouldn’t have shot at him again...”
“You aimed to put Pharaoh offline?”
“...I would have killed him...He couldn’t have blocked it...I shouldn’t-“ The tears were just rolling down his cheeks now. Light had to step back to give him some space, giving me a clearer line of sight.
“It’s alright.” I offered a bit sympathetically. Well, not really, but I tried to make it sound sympathetic. “It did not fully kill Magnet, so I don’t think it would have killed Pharaoh.”
“Is he okay?!” The sudden response startled me as he practically begged for an answer.
“Mm...I don’t know. Last I heard he was dying on a tabletop halfway around the world.” I probably could have worded that a bit more delicately, but it was true.
I watched as Rock covered his eyes with his arms, just sobbing at this point. The third liners were still technically his family. He seemed a lot my sympathetic to their situation than Light was. That wasn’t to say Light wasn’t uncomfortable about the news, but truthfully he seemed more interested in the “half way around the world” part.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.” I tried to do some damage control as Roll quickly began to comfort her brother.
I readjusted myself again so I wasn’t staring directly at the two of them. Silently wishing I had literally anyone else here with me to handle this situation better. Thankfully I could hear Bright’s footsteps approaching again.
“Oh! Rock, what’s wrong?” He asked quietly as he handed off the stash of tools to Light.
“Ring’s making him upset.” Roll shot a glare my direction that I tried to avoid. It felt like her vision was piercing through me, right down to my core.
“Ring...” Bright had the same tone that Dad did. “Can you just chill out, for like, twenty minutes?”
Yeah, I could hold it in for twenty minutes. I slowly and uncomfortably rolled myself over so I was facing the back of the couch. I tried my best to close my eyes and relax, but I was having a hard time not following up on my questions. At least I could eaves drop in the meantime.
“I’m sorry, he’s very young. He’s still learning.” Bright made an excuse on my behalf.
“It’s fine...It’s just not nice to think about.” Rock responded in a quiet voice.
Damnit, now I actually felt bad about asking my questions. He really is just a kid.
“How did you like the Wily bots?” Roll asked after several minutes of mindless chatter.
“Mmm...some of them I could do without. I spent most of my time working with Dad.” I noticed Bright avoiding any positive remarks about the Wily bots. Maybe I’d be smart to follow suit on that. I didn’t want these folks to think I was part of the enemy.
“What was the fortress like?” Roll asked. I could tell Light would be paying attention to the details here.
“Really big. But also surprisingly nice? It’s hard to explain. It’s divided into sections for each of the lines. But, then theres a lot of other rooms just kinda mixed in? It’s weird.”
“Did you talk to Wily much?”
“Hmm, I didn’t really. Some of the others did. He’s still pretty, intense.” Bright was delicate with his words.
Bright had shuffled off again soon after, leaving the light family to quietly discuss Bright’s answers. They didn’t seem overly concerned about Bright, but the sentiment wasn’t there for my brothers.
“Do you think Wily re-programmed them?”
“Why would they go seek out Wily? They surely only talk to him on orders.”
“Wily would hate them, they’re all too nice.”
It was eating me up. I couldn’t believe they’d just gossip like this right infront of me. I couldn’t wait to tell Dad and Pharaoh about the information I was collecting. Damn, I was starting to sound like Snake.
“Ring, did Wily build you?” I was addressed suddenly and snapped out of my thoughts. Rock was looking at me with those watery eyes of his. I huffed, and considered just ignoring him, but something nagged at me on the inside.
“...I...No, Wily didn’t do any part of my construction.” I decided that was worded nicely enough that I wouldn’t upset him.
“What about the other new one?”
“Skull? No. Wily didn’t work on him either.” I stopped and considered whether I would give him a further explanation. “He was working on his bots for almost the whole time.”
“Like, the second and thirds?” He asked quietly, probably hoping he’d assumed right.
“...No. I’m sorry.” I’m not really sure why I tagged that last part in there.
They were all quiet. I guess, to absolutely no ones surprise, I had said the wrong thing again. Fuck, this being nice to others thing was terrible.
“...It’s not your fault. You don’t have to say sorry.” Rock responsed after a few moments.
He looked genuinely heart broken. I guess I would be too if I was expected to fight over and over again. He looked tired. Just so very tired. I couldn’t tell if it was just from the recent fights or if he was just like that.
I felt bad. Definitely for him. Now that I could pin point my opinion here I felt a bit better having a conversation.
“What do you want to know?” I asked generally, pointed towards any of the Light family. They all looked a bit shocked. “What? The others certainly won’t tell you anything. And Bright isn’t here. What do you want to know?”
“When is Wily planning the next attack?” Light asked first, obviously dying to ask me anything.
“Within the next few weeks, expect sooner rather than later. All the new bots are ready to go.”
“Is there anyone to be worried about in particular?” Rock asked, clearly more combat focused.
“Personally, any of the ones with flight or pseudo-flight. A lot of them play more defensively though. At least two of them have a barrier weapon.”
“Are their any that are really nasty?”
“Nasty? None at all. I don’t think any of them could be mean if they wanted to. They were all in charge of watching Kalinka. The older bots said that they all turned out really different than how Wily had envisioned. Shadow called them glorified babysitters.”
“Why are you telling us this?” Rock asked suddenly.
“Because, if you had the upper hand and knew what to prepare for you wouldn’t have to fight as long.” He would also be less likely to actually hurt one of the fifth liners. I could already picture the uproar that would come about if Rock actually killed a Wily bot. The whole fortress would be on him. I guess he does have to be careful with the Wily bots. With every new line he just makes a potential future fight worse and worse.
I hope Dad would be okay with me telling all of this to the Light family. He probably didn’t really want me to talk to them at all right now. That’d be an apology for another time though.
“Thank you.” Rock smiled softly at me. “Um...can I ask one more potentially unrelated question?”
“Sure, anything.” What’s the worst he could ask?
“Did you ever see a bot named Blues? Or Breakman? Or Protoman?” I saw Light visibly clench at the mention of the bot.
“Well breifly this morning. He was the one who kidnapped Kalinka for Wily.” Rock looked shocked at that information. “He came back this morning to try and kidnap her again, so we had to fight him. Wily has him contained now.” Based on the read of the room I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad news. “Shadow said he was related to you? Among other things.”
“...Yeah...we’re related.” Rock had a bit of a thousand yard stare going on.
“Well, I’m glad you don’t take after him. You seem like a really nice kid.” I tried to reassure him, which seemed to bandage the wound for now.
“Thanks, Ring. I guess you’re not too bad yourself.”

Chapter Text

My head was throbbing as I slowly found my way back to consciousness. The immediate wave of sickness washed over me, threatening to make my insides my outsides. I reached around quickly to find a towel or blanket or anything to lean into and spill some fluid build up. My neck was screaming for me to lie back down, but the constant tap of internal fluid had other plans.
“Shi-! It’s okay, you’re okay.” A man’s voice quickly comforted me as I felt a hand press against my back comfortingy. “You’re okay, let it out.”
After several minutes of oil, coolant, e-fuel, and whatever the mystery fourth round was I finally caught my breath for long enough to look around. Taking in my surroundings I vaguely remebered where I was. Dr. Astil? I think? I looked back at the Doctor who was gently rubbing my back. He looked absolutely exhausted, I guess he’d been busy gluing my head back on.
“Here, I’ll clean up. You just lie back down.” He doted as he helped my gently lie down.
He quickly pulled the sheets off of me that were soiled and replaced them with new ones. I waited patiently as he grabbed a few hand cloths and a small tray of water to help me clean up. He let me hold the warm rags and wipe my face myself, but he was quick to help when he noticed me strugging. It almost felt nice to have him care for me, but mostly weird since he wasn’t really familiar to me. I at least owed him the benefit of the doubt for fixing me up.
Saving my life.
...
This man had likely saved my life. My systems were all red or offline when I’d hit his back porch with Pharaoh. If he’d refused to work on me, I would have likely died from the shock. Hell, he could have just stripped me down for parts, robots weren’t cheap! I guess there was a reason Pharaoh trusted him so much.
“T~ha*,” I startled the doctor and myself as I tried to thank him. My raspy voice destroying the otherwise quiet lab.
“Ah, we haven’t had a chance to fix everything yet. Just the basics.” He smiled as the shock settled. I nodded to his explanation, I’d just have to thank him properly later. “I think you woke the other two up though.”
To my right, the opposite direction I’d spilled my guts thankfully, I watched as two other bots started to stir. Pharaoh was on another operating table closest to me, splayed out in the typical examination posture. The table furthest from me looked like it had been retrofitted into a more comfortable bed. A smaller bot with medium length green hair was waking up with a serious case of bed head. Presumably this was one of Astil’s bots.
“Good afternoon you two.” Astil addressed them as I watched his bot roll over and snuggle back under the blankets.
“Astil, you could tell me it was anytime of day right now and I’d be inclined to believe you.” Pharaoh stated, which stiffled a crackly laugh out of me. “Oh? Magnet!”
Pharaoh tried to get up but Astil was quick to grab him, his eyes were still blanketed in a milky white sheen as he struggled to get up.
“Easy! Easy, Pharaoh. Your friend is awake, he’s not feeling great yet. And his voice box is still out, so he can’t say much.” Astil explained briefly, which seemed to at least calm Pharaoh down.
Pharaoh stopped as he got to an upright position and gently felt around the bed.
“Can I lie down with him?”
“Mmm, okay. I’ll help you.”
A few minutes of awkward guiding, shuffling, bumping, and fussing finally ended with Pharaoh up on the table beside me with a few extra pillows and blankets for support. I’d shuffled myself around to rest my head against his arm as we both got comfortable again. Truthfully, I would have appreciated some further time to myself, but Pharaoh was probaby worried sick about me. I couldn’t blame him for trying to keep an eye on me, even if he still couldn’t see.
“You two had best get some more rest. We should all be ready to teleport back to your dad’s soon.” Astil said, looking at Pharaoh.
“I’ll assume you’re looking at me.” Pharaoh said, trying his best to look in the direction of Astil’s voice.
“Yes, I’m looking at you.” Astil sassed back playfully.
The lab quieted down again while we all finished up our naps. I still felt like I could throw up again, but I had my guard up now against loosing anymore liquids. Not that I thought I actually had any more to lose.
Astil had quietly turned on the radio with some soft music by the time I blinked myself back to semi-awakeness. It must have been a few hours later as it looked like Astil had showered and changed his clothes. He must be getting ready to go. I slowly scooted myself away from Pharaoh and sat upright with my legs hanging off he side of the table. Astil was quick to notice me move now that I had my coordination back.
“Ah, welcome back. You look a lot better.” He complimented, but I still felt like shit. I flashed him a thumbs up none the less. “Do you want a hand?” He asked as my feet gently touched the floor.
I shook my head no as I slid off the table. My hands stayed firmly planted on the edge of the table behind me as I readjusted myself. The only thing that really hurt was my neck and shoulders, but that was nothing new. Astil did a pretty good job, all things considered.
“Do you think you’ll be okay to teleport to the Cossack’s lab? Or, you don’t have to go with us if you don’t want to. I suppose you want to get back to your family.” He didn’t give me enough time to answer his first question with a nod, so I instead just looked back at Pharaoh. I wasn’t going to leave him now.
“It’s up to you. We should wake him up and get going soon. It should be morning by the time we get to Russia.” Astil motioned to Pharaoh. “I’ll go wake up Plant and grab my travel tools. I’ll be back.” I watched him leave before I turned back to face Pharaoh.
Once I was sure he was gone I planted a small kiss on his forehead and nudged him awake. I didn’t want to startle him, especially with the condition he was in. He blindly blinked awake and felt around until his hands grazed over mine. I gave his hand a light squeeze as he yawned.
“Fuck...every joint in my body is just aching. Are you feeling any better?” I shrugged before I realized that wasn’t going to progress our conversation.
“*ME~h” I tried not to yell it, but it felt like my output was cranked as high as it would go.
“You know what...I shouldn’t have asked.” He joked as he sat up and stretched.
I snuck in again and planted a kiss on his cheek before leaving him be.
It was only a few minutes before Astil returned with his bot and his travel bags. I tried to give an encouraging wave to his bot, but I think he was still a bit put off having me around.
“Well, how do you two feel?” Astil asked as he set his stuff down for a moment.
“Not great, but a lot better. I’m sure Magnet would say the same.” Pharaoh answered as I nodded along. “Thank you, sincerely. I don’t know what we would have done if you weren’t here.”
“I’m always happy to help family, and friends of family.” Astil responded with a warm smile. “Speaking of family. I think it’s time we got you two back home for some proper care and repairs. Have you decided if you’re coming with us?” Astil questioned towards me.
I nodded along softly. Astil’s bot seemed a bit concerned about that decision, but he kept his mouth shut for now.
“Great, let’s get you two into the teleporter. It might be a bit easier on your systems than just teleporting yourselves.”
We helped guide Pharaoh over to the small chamber. It was probably only build for one or two people at a time, so this was a little cramped. Nothing new though, pretty standard as far as your typical long distance teleporters go. I watched as Astil typed in some coordinates before our swift departure.
...
I didn’t have enough time to think about how this was going to effect my newly repaired systems as we were unceremoniously dropped in the Cossack household. We didn’t end up in their teleporter, instead in what appeared to be a kitchen, so the machine here was probably in need of some calibration.
The other thing in need of calibration was my nausea. Mystery liquid round number five was dumped blindly onto Cossack’s poor kitchen tiles.
Pharaoh’s looked like a bit more like oil and other debris. Entirely unpleasant as he coughed and swung around blindly for something to support himself against. Luckily the small Astil bot had caught him, and avoided the majority of the fall out. Our arrival, unsurprisingly, drew the attention of some of the attending folk of the room over.
I’ll admit, I was glad to see Ring was the first one through the archway. At least he’d be here to help his brother. The second guest though had my fight or flight instincts racing, and it looked like flight was going to win.
The look of curiousity and caution on Rock’s face quickly turned to big tears as we made eye contact. My stomach turned knots on itself as he wept. I hadn’t seen him in almost a year, he almost killed me, I should be mad! But deep down, he was still my brother, even if I didn’t want to admit it.
In a moment of pure cowardice I postured Pharaoh between myself and him. Leaving my blind partner oblivious to the approaching concern.
“Oh boy, I’ll go grab some towels boys. Just sit down and relax.” Astil said, obviously not as worried about the mixture of war machines in the room and instead in full on doctor mode.
“Come on. Let’s get you two to the couch.” Ring surprisingly let the Astil bot escort Pharaoh to the living room, and instead turned himself to me. He gently put an arm around my side, throwing my one arm over his shoulder as he slowly helped me away from the mess.
I guess I was glad Ring took the initiative. It at least meant Rock couldn’t swoop in while I wasn’t feeling good. That of course didn’t stop him from immediately latching onto Pharaoh.
“Pharaoh, I’m so sorry!” The poor kid was in hysterics. Pharaoh looked a little shocked to be grabbed all of a sudden, but he quickly put it together.
“Oh! Rock! Thank you!” Pharaoh felt around for a moment before giving Rock a little forehead nudge. “I’m not the one you should be apologizing too though.” Pharaoh said as he let the blue bomber go.
I made awkward eye contact with Rock as Ring slowly let go of me. Fuck. I guess I was getting a bit emotional. I put my arms out slowly to invite him in for a hug. He practically ran at me, throwing his arms over my shoulders. I had to kneel down to let him get a better grip before I picked him up.
His face nestled into the side of my neck, muffling loud sobs as I rubbed gentle circles on his back. I was almost glad I couldn’t say anything to him right now, but I knew that’d only make him more worried.
“I’m so sorry...I never wanted to hurt you again.” I leaned my head against his comfortingly as I subconsciously rocked him back and forth a bit.
Rarely, was I ever mad at Rock. He was just a kid. Most of the time my contempt was directed towards Light. The one who made the final decision not to take us back. Wily was a big point of malice as well for ripping us away from our lives, but I was finding it harder and harder to be mad at him. Considering he saved us and all. Kept us from going to the scrap heap after our battle, and gave us a home.
“There you are! I’ve been worried sick about you boys!” Cossack looked absolutely exhausted as the remaining cast found their way to the kitchen.
“...Sorry Dad, I should have just-“ Pharaoh was quickly pulled into a hug and peppered with kisses.
“No no, you did the right thing!” Cossack affirmed with Pharaoh, “And you!” Cossack was quick to pull me into a hug as well as I awkwardly still held onto Rock. “Oh look at you, Astil did a great job. Your brothers have been so worried.” He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead as well. I felt a blush creep across my cheeks.
“Magnet!” My attention was pulled quickly to Roll as she too ran up and threw her arms over my shoulders. She thankfully was a lot less weepy, and easier to pick up.
I relished in the mini family reunion until I caught Light’s unamused look from the archway. He certainly wasn’t happy to see his two golden children in my arms. Equally so, he probably wasn’t happy to see me functioning either. I regretfully let the twins down and tried to avoid making eye contact with Light. Thankfully Astil’s return with towels and Cossack’s light doting was enough to keep me somewhat comfortable.
Ring offered to help Astil clean up the kitchen as we slowy moved the recovery party to the living room. Cossack was quick to offer me help and slowly postured himself between Light and me. It was slowly coming to me just how vaulnerable I must look. There was nothing but social structures keeping me from having poor Rock sicked on me to finish the job by the opportunistic Light. I doubted he’d be that stupid, but the possibility certainly wasn’t off the table.
Pharaoh was sat down on the couch in the living room with Rock closely beside him. I could already tell he was going to be answering all of the curious twins questions. Cossack had held onto me protectively though, and hadn’t let me sit down with the others.
“We should get you to the lab and have a look at the rest of the damage.” Cossack quietly spoke to me. “ The rest of your brothers are here helping me fix my boys.”
I’d sent the order for the others to come here and help before we even left the castle. I couldn’t bare the thought of Cossack here all by himself in the aftermath. We knew first hand how hard it was to recover from this, and none of us wanted to see Cossack’s family go through it alone.
“Pharaoh, I’m going to take Magnet to the lab. If you feel okay you can stay here and relax for a while before I look at your eyes.” Cossack asked before we left.
“Thanks, I’ll be fine. Please, take care of him.” Pharaoh looked back in our direction, not making eye contact but still close.
Rock snuck in one last tearful wave to me before I was escorted back to the lab. This place was absolutely bustling with activity. Understandably I was mobbed before I even got in the door by Top and Spark.
I was so happy to see they were all okay. Truthfully, I wasn’t as worried about them as I was about the Cossack’s, but I was still relieved none the less.
“Magnet! Don’t you scare us like that ever again!” Top was fighting back tears as I pulled him into a hug. I’d explain to him later what happened.
Spark was the next one, practically hanging off of my waist with huge waterwork tears. I picked him up carefully and peppered him in kisses. Poor little guy, but he’d been so brave in the meantime.
“Okay, give him some space. He still has a long way to go before he’s back to 100%.” Cossack did his best to shoo me towards an operating table.
I wobbled my way over, with Spark still clinging to me, and pried him off before jumping up on the table.
Some type of feeling started to well up in the pit of my chest. Looking around the cramped lab, surrounded by everyone who really cared about me. Grateful, maybe. Grateful that everyone here cared about me. Even Cossack and his boys cared about me, unlike that back stabbing liar Light. I slowly lied back onto the table as Cossack leaned over me. His smile said he was proud of me, or perhaps just grateful in return that I cared about his son enough to risk my own life to save him. I closed my eyes and let him gently touch the remaining damage around my neck. He was delicate in his inspection and always stopped when I winced or moved suddenly. I trusted him not to hurt me though, I knew he woudn’t.
“Magnet?” Cossack caught my attention. I hope he hadn’t been talking to me this whole time, I was so lost in my own thoughts. “There you are. You’re exhausted. Do you want the shut down for me? I promise I’ll wake you back up once you’re a bit more stable. There’s quite a bit that still needs to be reconnected in here before you’ll be able to eat or drink by yourself. And a lot of your sensory inuts aren’t hooked into anything either. But I’ll try and get that all fixed while you rest.” He reassured me as I closed my eyes again, this time drifting off into statis.

Chapter Text

FINAL CHAPTER
......................................................................

Sleeping in my own bed after months of living in the fortress almost made me uncomfortable. There was no constant hum of machines, no footsteps trying to silently slink down the hallway, no sound of the ocean rolling against the rocks in the distance.
Replacing the sounds now with things that I’d forgot to miss. The old grandfather clock down the hall from my wifes father, dutifully keeping time while the house had been absent. Branches of the overgrown tree beside my bedroom window occasionally buffing against the house, another activity to add to the clean up chore list. Soft conversations sneaking their way up into my room from the lab down below, both my boys and the others comforting and caring for each other. Well, I guess that wasn’t so different now was it.
If you’d asked me four months ago how I expect the return home to look like this certainly wouldn’t have been my ideal description. My world had been turned upside down and flipped right back around to where this almost felt normal. I suppose this was just the tail end of the whole ordeal now. Things should start feeling normal again soon enough.
I’d heard from almost all of my contractors already, full of concern and curiousity for their respective bots. Pharaoh’s work family had been the most concerned, they even offered to fly over here to see him. I’d told them all that each of my boys would be back to work as soon as they were able to, but not to rush it. We had a lot to discuss as a family, and a lot of healing to do together.
I guess I was most concerned for Skull and Ring though. The thought had crossed my mind of putting them offline or shut down until I could find them a job, but it made me sick to my stomach imagining either of those scenarios. Slim chance I’d put either of them offline, they were both such lovely boys once you got around their shells. Both of them deserved a fair chance at finding a place for themselves.
Next, was probably going to be Dust and Pharaoh. I wasn’t exactly sure what the relationship status was with both of them, but I’d heard through the local gossip that both of them had become ‘very good friends’ with some of the third line. I imagine that’s why the third line was all here now. If they’d each found someone they cared about, then who was I to oppose them? Unfortunately, that sentiment might not be so well received with others. Both of them had really good work families, but I wasn’t sure how lenient they’d each be. As long as they knew I’d support them that’s all that mattered to me.
Last, and certainly not least, my beautiful baby Kalinka. How was she going to go back to a normal life? She had missed so much while she was gone. So much schoolwork, all her friends from class, dance recitals, birthday parties...And her family. I hadn’t seen her in what felt like ages. We had barely even had a chance to talk yet, at least have a real conversation. Not that she was quite in the mood yet to talk about what had happened while we were apart.
She’d been safe though. She was never in any real danger I don’t think. The Wily bots would never let here get into trouble, or willingly put her in any sort of danger. I knew they took great care of her, and she was obviously quite fond of all the Wily bots in return. They all simply adored her, I don’t think I’d ever have to worry about her around the Wily bots again.
What about me...was I still going to pretend the Wily bots were all domination driven machines? Was I supposed to continue on as if they hadn’t changed my life? Where would I be standing now if I had just left my boys with Wily as he’d first requested? Would everything have turned out okay? Would my boys have been returned to me, or would they have been torn apart with the same amount of mercy shown to the Wily bots? I’d like to believe they would have come back, but who knows what would have happened to them if I hadn’t originally offered to stay with them.
Slowly, the sound of light footsteps approached my room before the door softly creaked open. Sitting up in the dim light I could see Kalinka silhouetted by the hall light behind her.
“I can’t sleep...” She was so soft spoken, almost whispering.
“Me either, come here.” I said as I patted the bed beside me and fluffed up the blankets a bit.
She quickly made her way under the safety of the blankets. I pulled her in snuggly beside myself as I lied back down.
“...I miss Star...” Kalinka admitted quietly as we settled down.
I truthfully wasn’t expecting that. I’d known the fifth gens were taking care of her, but I didn’t know how close she was with them. I should have assumed as much, she was a sociable kid.
“Did you like him?” I asked vaguely to see if she was in the mood to talk.
“He was really nice. He took care of me a lot more than the others.” She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. “He was so sad though.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I think sad that I was going to leave. He was so scared when Rock came to get me.”
Understandably so; I’m sure Wily had filled his boys with horror stories of the blue bomber. At least they were cautious.
“He said he would come and visit me once he had his fight with Rock...but, I don’t want him to get hurt.” Her eye welled up with tears almost instantly.
“Shh, shh. It’s okay. I’m sure he’ll be okay. And I’m sure he’ll come and visit you.” I flat out lied. If Rock’s aggressive performance this go around was anything to compare he might actually be getting progressively more violent. I had no idea what he’d do to the newest Wily boys, but I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“But what if he DOES get hurt?”
“He has a big family to help him, and Wily will fix him up.” I tagged that last bit on, but remembered the original state we’d seen his boys in. “And, when he does come to visit, we can take care of him too.”
“Really?” He teary eyes looked so hopeful.
“Absolutely, I mean, it’s about time I started teaching you how to take care of your brothers. And if Star’s going to be visiting you should know how to take care of him too.” I smiled at her as her frown disappeared.
We were both interrupted by another small knock on the door as it creaked open. I wasn’t expecting Ring, but I suppose the living room might have still been too lively to sleep in.
“Oh...sorry, I’ll go to Pharaoh’s room...” he sounded so sad.
“Oh come on, there’s plenty of room. Come here.” I floofed out the other side of the blanket and shuffled over a bit to make room.
He didn’t snuggle up like the others, but he did make himself comfortable.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Kalinka asked as she wiped the last streaks of tears away.
“...yeah. It’s so quiet here.” He smiled at her softly as she climbed over me to lie between the two of us instead.
“Oof, Kalinka.” I moaned as she kneed my stomach. “It is pretty different. You can stay here tonight if you like.”
“Thanks, Dad.” He waited awkwardly as Kalinka settled in again before putting his head back on the pillow.
“You two get some sleep now, goodnight.”
“Goodnight, papa.”
“Goodnight, dad.”
I put my head down, looking for a moment at my two children. I doubted I’d get any sleep with the two of them here, but I’d rather have them here than be uncomfortable by themselves. Things were rocky with Ring at the start, but I was glad to see that he came around in the end. And I was equally as happy to see how much Kalinka already liked him. It was starting to feel almost normal again.
Nothing would even be exactly normal again, but this new normal was really growing on me. This might be better than where we left off. No, it was absolutely better than when we left. I closed my eyes with a content smile, finally feeling like everything was going to be alright.